It's time to buy British. Amidst all the talk of tariffs and interruptions to overseas trade it's a good opportunity to remember most of the things we need can be bought at home from UK producers. Rachel Reeves was wrong to play down the idea that more of us should buy more locally.
This government is too busy getting us to import more. Their high energy prices are closing factories and driving firms away. If you must buy the foreign product, it means paying for all the extra freight, insurance, paperwork to get the goods across frontiers . It means your money is going to sustain jobs and pay taxes abroad. Your purchase is not offering the same help to your neighbours who supply alternatives. It is not putting so much money into the Treasury to help pay for the NHS. The government's insistence on us importing gas instead of allowing more UK production is wilful self-harm given the amount of tax and the well-paid jobs we lose.
As for UK businesses it is easier selling to York than New York and to Washington Tyne and Wear rather than D.C. There is no tariff on selling at home, no customs form to fill out, no different laws and standards to obey. There is no need to get on a plane or learn a foreign language when you sell to the next town.
Trump's tariffs point us in one direction - we must buy British - Sir John Redwood
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After the closures of the Grangemouth oil refinery, our last coal power station, the Luton van factory, and others at last this week the government decided closing the Scunthorpe steel works was a step too far. Let us hope it is a lightbulb moment, with the government finally seeing the need to produce more at home. Rachel Reeves should change her mind to back buying British. She needs to help the Industry Secretary as he becomes the controlling Director of British Steel. He needs to get out on the road selling British steel to UK customers.
The government has chosen a hard case to try to reverse the rush to import. To sell more UK steel at a profit will require the government to slash energy prices which requires big changes to energy policy. They should start by reversing the ban on new oil and gas, so we buy cheaper down a local pipe than dear LNG. They should allow new local coal mines to fuel the steel furnaces instead of bringing coal halfway round the world in diesel burning ships.
When I replace my car, I buy one from a UK factory. My weekly food shop backs British farms and food, supplemented only by tropical items from far away. I am pleased with the UK products. We are told the climate is warming so we should be able to grow more of our own soft fruits, vines, and vegetables, and enjoy a longer season. As farmers invest in more glasshouses and polytunnels we could become self-sufficient again in temperate fruit and veg whatever the weather. Bring on the day. Let's cut the food miles to deliver it fresh.
Saving British Steel should be the start of a Buy British campaign from the government.
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The government has announced some small tariff cuts to help us import more. Every little help when it comes to lower taxes. What a pity they have at the same time just imposed a large and damaging tax on jobs to make it dearer to manufacture at home. The government's net zero policy is one huge tax rise on consumers and business alike which is claiming many victims as businesses shut down, priced out of world markets. Their farm policy gives money to farmers to stop growing food. It taxes family farms and businesses on death, so some must fold. Reverse these tax attacks and use grants wisely to grow more home produce.
The government should embrace Buy British as their slogan. If it is right to help a steel company to make and sell more UK steel it is right to encourage farmers to grow more British food, to let UK car factories make and sell petrol cars people want to buy, and to allow more UK oil and gas. That is just for starters. Run with verve and good government support a Buy British campaign could take off. What better way to duck US tariffs and the coming EU carbon tax? We could get investment in factories to make all sorts of things. Let's believe in ourselves and back Britain.
