(Bloomberg) -- UK opposition leader Keir Starmer will pledge that a Labour government would boost public purchases of local food as he seeks to appeal to country’s embattled farmers.
Labour would ensure that at least half the food bought by the public sector would be produced at home or highly sustainable. That equals £1.2 billion ($1.44 billion) of public money and would aid food security and the agriculture sector, according to a statement before Starmer speaks at a farming conference on Tuesday.
It’s “a clear target for every year we are in government,” he’s set to say at the conference in Birmingham, England. “50% is just the minimum. We will do everything to go beyond it. We will buy more cereals, more oilseed rape, more strawberries, more beef and more British apples.”
Starmer will address the farming industry at a time when it’s under pressure from issues including high costs of livestock feed, energy and fertilizers, as well as a lack of workers and a bird flu crisis. The National Farmers’ Union in December warned that the UK was sleepwalking toward another food crisis.
Labour also wants to use public purchases to help improve peoples’ health amid concerns over worsening diets and rising obesity.
The plan echoes recommendations from the government-commissioned National Food Strategy. The report, prepared by Henry Dimbleby, recommended strengthening state procurement rules to ensure that taxpayer money is spent on healthy and sustainable produce.
Starmer will also commit to expanding police presence in rural areas after recently outlining a series of crime-tackling policies. He’ll also promise a different approach to trade.
“We are going to talk to our friends in the European Union, and we are going to seek a better trading relationship for British farming,” Starmer will say. “We want to remove barriers to exporters, not put them up. We want to protect high British standards, not water them down.”
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Author: Agnieszka de Sousa