Claire backs British Pork

Claire is showing her support for British pig farmers. On the 3 March, Claire met Wiltshire pig farmer Cameron

Naughton and attended the "Pigs Are Still Worth It" rally in London and signed a petition later presented to No.10 Downing Street.

Speaking after the rally Claire said:

"My constituency of Devizes in Wiltshire used to be world famous for pig breeding and processing but now down to only a handful of commercial pig farmers. I'm supporting the "Yes! Yes! Yes! To British Pork" campaign which calls on retailers to pay a fair price to farmers and I have also written to the heads of all major supermarkets asking them to reveal how much British pork they are selling"

A report by the BPEX, The Impact of Feed Costs on the English Pig Industry, reveals that the sustainability of the English pig industry is under severe threat as a result of escalating feed grain prices (up by 30%) and a consistent fall in the price paid for a finished pig.

Claire Perry asks Minister of State on what the Government is doing to help support British pig farmers

On the 17th March 2011 in the House of Commons, Claire Perry, MP for the Devizes constituency questioned James Paice, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food, on the Government's support for British pig farmers. In particular, Claire highlighted the lack of British produce in provisions for the Armed Forces as requisitioned by the previous Government.

Claire Perry (Devizes, Conservative)

May I return to the topic of the difficulties faced by pig farmers, which are particularly acute in my constituency? Is the Minister aware of the answer given by the Minister for the Armed Forces to my recent written question showing that under the previous Government less than 1% of the bacon served to our armed forces was British? Does he agree that if we are to do what we say as a Government and help British farmers, we should put our money where our mouth is and encourage the public sector to buy British?

James Paice (Minister of State (Agriculture and Food), Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; South East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend, which is why the Government will publish Government buying standards very shortly. They will require all of central Government to purchase food produced to British standards wherever that can be done without extra cost, which should not really come into it. I must tell her that we are working very hard on the specific issue of bacon and the armed forces with the British Pig Executive and the Ministry of Defence. We face some specific challenges relating not only to the specification but to the quantity that the MOD needs and that fact that everything needs to be frozen. Trials have been done using sow bacon and other things, but we are still working on the challenge.

Hansard source (Citation: HC Deb, 17 March 2011, c471)

Response from the UK's leading supermarkets

Claire has also written to the Chief Executives of Britain's largest supermarkets, click on the links below to read those that replied: 

Morrisons / Tescos / Sainsburys / Waitrose

Response from the Ministry of Defence:

Claire recently wrote in support of British pig farmers to Peter Luff, Minster for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology at the Ministry of Defence, to read his response please click the link here.

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