'People picking up food thinking it's British - and it's NOT!' Save British Farming chief FURIOUS over food packaging CON

'People picking up food thinking it's British - and it's NOT!' Save British Farming chief FURIOUS over food packaging CON

WATCH NOW: Farming activist clashes with Jacob Rees-Mogg on British agriculture

GB News
Georgia Pearce

By Georgia Pearce


Published: 25/03/2024

- 22:06

Updated: 26/03/2024

- 08:00

Over 100 tractors descended on Westminster this evening in a protest over food security

A British farming activist has warned that the industry "will not survive", as hundreds of farmer descended on Westminster in a protest over UK food security.

Over 100 tractors took to Parliament Square in a 'go-slow' demonstration on London's roads, causing major disruption to the capital.


Two of the organisations in support of British farmers, Save British Farming and Fairness for Farmers of Kent, have claimed that cheap food imports and unsupportive policies are putting UK food security at risk.

The UK protest comes following violent demonstrations in Europe, including Greece, Germany, Portugal, Poland and France, fighting against European Union regulations and cheap imports.

Liz Webster and Jacob Rees-Mogg

Liz Webster told Jacob Rees-Mogg she could 'argue all night' about food security for farmers

GB News

Speaking to GB News, founder of Save British Farming Liz Webster said the process of adding the British flag to imported food products is "absolutely outrageous".

Webster fumed: "A lot of people are picking up packets of food thinking it's British and high quality and it's not. And so we think that's really a simple thing that could be fixed very, very quickly."

Webster argued that Boris Johnson "promised farmers" that once the UK was out of the European Union, farmers would be "well looked after and supported".

Webster told Nigel Farage: "He said we'd probably end up with more subsidy - that hasn't happened, far from it."

Jacob Rees-Mogg

Webster says the British flag appearing on non-British farm foods is 'outrageous'

GB News

Nigel Farage then mentioned Jacob Rees-Mogg and offered to bring him into the debate, to which Webster swiped: "Jacob likes hormone-fed meat from Australia."

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Nigel shut down Webster's comment, claiming: "What Jacob wants is what I want, which is fair labelling."

When asked how Labour would better support agricultural policy, Webster replied: "They have guaranteed that there will be a veterinary agreement and that makes us feel a lot happier.

"We really don't want to accede to CPTPP. It means regulation, harmonisation, it means hormone-fed meat. And we really don't want that. It'll be cataclysmic for us. We won't survive it."

Jacob Rees-Mogg was then brought into the debate, as he argued that the Government is "spending money on encouraging people not to farm, which seems to me to be a great mistake".

Jacob explained: "We're putting it into these wild environmentalist causes, rather than saying what we need to do is to back farmers to produce food, which I'm strongly in favour of, but I'm not in favour of protectionism and higher prices for consumers, because I believe our farmers can compete globally."

Farmer protest

Farmers descended on Westminster in their tractors, causing major disruption in the capital

PA

Webster fought back, stating: "The problem is that we live in the northern hemisphere and we have a very difficult climate. And we know this because when the Corn Laws were repealed in 1846, we know darned well what happened to agriculture."

Jacob hit back: "It's simply wrong, British agriculture didn't collapse at that point. There was a glut in the market 30 years later, which comes much after the Corn Laws."

When pressed by Nigel on how the Labour government would be "more connected" to the farming community than the Conservatives, Webster said it is "is in their interest to make sure that Britain has got food".

Webster added: "And with the way the world is right now, we're in a very fragile situation, which is why we need food security. And every farmer I know talks about food security because we understand how much less food is being produced."

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