Gavin Williamson, MP for South Staffordshire, has joined Conservatives across the UK to show support for the Great British Food Campaign. The five-year campaign, led by Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss, will give a boost to chefs, entrepreneurs and food producers to promote British food and drink at home and abroad.
The campaign is well underway with 2016 designated the Year of Great British Food. As well as events across the world, such as a gin and English sparkling wine party in Chicago for the Queen’s 90th birthday, the campaign has already also held a food market at 10 Downing Street and launched a food trail to coincide with the second annual Cycle Tour de Yorkshire.
The Great British Food Unit will support the campaign, turbo-charging our exports, supporting inward investment and championing the excellence of British food and drink at home and abroad.
Already the Government has supported thousands of food and drink businesses to export almost £1 billion of their top-quality British produce to shops and restaurants around the world in the past two years. Total food and drink exports reached £19 billion in 2014 and we estimate these exports support up to 65,000 jobs in food and drink manufacturing. The Government supports the Food and Drink Federation’s export target to grow value-added food and drink exports by a third, which would achieve a total value of £6 billion by 2020.
Gavin wants to build on this success and encourage even more South Staffordshire companies to sell their Great British produce around the world. To celebrate the rich heritage and iconic tradition of British food and drink, the Environment Secretary would also like to increase the number of Protected Food Names, from 64 to 200.
Gavin also recently met with members of the NFU and farming community in South Staffordshire and discussed a range of important topics including the dairy industry, supermarket conduct, red-tape in agriculture, fly tipping and the European Union.
Speaking about the campaign Gavin commented: “It was great to meet with members of the NFU to discuss extremely important issues. Farming continues to be an incredibly important sector for the UK and contributes significantly to our national economy and the preservation of our environment.
“South Staffordshire has some of the very best produce that the UK has to offer and there has never been a more exciting time for the UK’s food, drink and farming industry.
“We have many brilliant companies based in South Staffordshire, Halfpenny Green Vineyards, McCains which produces millions of pounds worth of products in Wombourne and the brilliant Essington Fruit Farm who recently produced their own Staffordshire Sausage to celebrate Staffordshire Day.
“It is vital for our economic future that we make British food and farming all it can be – we will do that by backing big business, supporting local South Staffordshire start-ups and embracing our rich food heritage.”