I was saddened to hear of the Princess of Wales’ diagnosis with cancer last week. My thoughts are with Her Royal Highness and the Prince of Wales, their children and the whole Royal Family at this time.
Representing a rural constituency, I am passionate supporter of our farmers and their contribution to both putting food on our tables and conserving our environment. Indeed, this week I am hosting one of my regular roundtables with local farmers to hear about the opportunities and challenges facing farming in our area. With this in mind, I was delighted by the news that Waitrose and the Co-op have launched ‘Best of British’ sections on their website to make more straightforward for shoppers to buy homegrown produce – joining similar efforts by Morrisons, Aldi, Sainsbury’s and Ocado. Bravo to all of these and let’s hope M&S and Asda now join them.
British farmers produce exceptional food to world-class welfare standards, and buying British helps cut down on unnecessary food miles whilst supporting local farmers. Similar measures are also being introduced by the Government to feature more prominent ‘British labelling’ on food produce to help consumers choose local – reducing the risk of foreign imports, produced with lesser welfare standards, undercutting farmers here in the UK.
Would you like to see offenders of anti-social behaviour properly punished and made to atone for the nuisance they inflict upon the community? The public are now being offered the chance by the Government to nominate projects in their local area for immediate Community Payback. Such projects will see those criminals caught engaging in anti-social behaviour carrying out hard graft such as picking up litter from roadsides, scrubbing graffiti from underpasses or shopfronts, and maintaining neighbourhood beauty spots. I see lots of litter as I travel around, so why not nominate a Community Payback project for your area via my website by going to: www.andrewgriffith.uk/CommunityPayback
