A campaign launched by Bosworth MP, Dr Luke Evans, celebrates a further round of successes as Waitrose and Co-op launch ‘Best of British’ sections online, becoming the latest national supermarkets to back Dr Luke’s campaign.
Since Dr Luke launched his campaign last year Morrisons, Aldi, Sainsbury’s and Ocado have also implemented ‘British’ and ‘Best of British’ sections on their websites.
The recent move to implement a ‘Best of British’ section by Waitrose and the Co-op shows increased support for the MPs campaign amid country-wide calls to buy more homegrown produce.
The MP for Bosworth wrote an open letter to supermarket Chief Executives last year which called for supermarkets with online stores to implement a ‘Buy British’ section online which collates all British-sourced food and drink.
Dr Luke’s letter was signed by 126 cross-Party MPs, with his campaign for a ‘Buy British’ button also receiving the support of the Government and National Farmers’ Union (NFU).
Dr Luke Evans, Member of Parliament for Bosworth, said "I'm so pleased the supermarket industry has seen the value of my campaign.
“Implementing a ‘Buy British’ section online is a relatively simple change that gives consumers greater choice, supports our farmers and cuts down on unnecessary food miles. Better still, this hasn’t required any legislation; this is farmers, MPs, supermarkets and the public all working together – with Government backing – to make a change!
“I’ll be following up with the likes of Tesco and ASDA, who have yet to make the change, in the hope that they follow suit soon.”
Steve Barclay, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said “UK farmers produce exceptional food to world-class standards. It’s great to see British supermarkets celebrating homegrown and reared produce by making it easier for customers to back our farmers and choose British food.”
David Exwood, Deputy President of the National Farmers’ Union, said “It’s really pleasing to see so many supermarkets supporting Dr Luke Evans fantastic campaign and backing British farmers and growers by adding buy British sections to their websites in order to signpost shoppers to home-grown produce.
“We know from our own independent research that the public want to buy more British food from retailers and why we have been championing this important issue for some time.”
A Waitrose spokesperson said “We are really proud of our British farmers. We do a great deal to promote the care and effort they put into producing food to our customers online and in our shops. We back our farmers by paying them a fair price for the high standards of environmental and animal welfare standards they deliver for us and offer our customers their high quality food at great value.
“We have recently added a ‘Best of British’ section to Waitrose.com. It includes some of our products which are 100% British all year round, such as fresh eggs, meat and milk. If it is a success with our customers we will consider expanding on it.”
Adele Balmforth, Co-op Propositions Director, said “As a member-owned organisation, we know food provenance really matters to our member owners, and we continue our longstanding support for British farmers, growers and local suppliers, championing home-grown produce, protein and products.
“The new Best of British page on our online platform, make it easier and quicker for our customers to buy British, which means we support local livelihoods and give our customers what they want.”
