Labelling, labelling, labelling……

Above; the sort of house many Cornish members of Extinction Rebellion, the Green Party and the Liberal Democrat Party reside in.
The above house on the market today would be well over £500K. However, given that most houses in Epsom are over £1M, it is easily affordable for the well to do home-owner in Surrey!
In 1997, at Labour’s launch at Millbank of their Education manifesto for the General Election that year, Mr Blair famously issued the tricolon, “Education, education, education”. He was trying to make a point.
Which is why today’s post has as it’s title, “Labelling, labelling, labelling……”
Yesterday on the BBC 1’s regional TV news programme for the south west, a farmer was interviewed who expressed great concern as to what would befall them on New Year’s Day 2021.
Their concern is understandable as the Common Agricultural Policy has benefited farmers enormously during the years of the UK’s vassalage to the EU.
They have two fears:
#1: That the imposition of a 40% tariff on EU exports will destroy their export business.
#2: That they will be undercut and their home market destroyed by cheap imports from the USA.
These fears are not unreasonable.
In the case of a “no deal”, the 40% tariff appears a likely prospect. However, with a “no deal” the home market still remains. The UK has a large population and all of them require food to maintain life!
There is no shortage of demand!
The answer in the BG’s opinion is to be found in proper labelling that is easy to see, obvious and clear.
What is obvious is that US food producers want the US government to negotiate a free trade deal with the UK that allows them tariff free and unrestricted access to the UK market for their foodstuffs and furthermore, the ability (for them) to maintain production complying with US regulations and not the more burdensome UK regulations.
The way the UK negotiators should deal with this is straightforward. Give the US negotiators what they want BUT insist that UK food suppliers (at all points in the chain from farm to fork) will face a regime that clearly labels their food putting the following on the packaging:
– Country of Origin (UK or England/Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland).
– GM FREE OR GM MODIFIED
– Farm friendly/free range OR Intensively produced.
– Organic OR Pesticides/Antibiotics used.
Furthermore, UK importers of US produce will be required to label such imports clearly with the US flag – if the packaging does not already have it.
Furthermore, UK importers of US produce will NOT be required to metricate the Imperial measurements.
This would appear to give the US negotiators everything they could possibly wish!
HOWEVER:
British consumers will be free to choose what they buy!
It will be perfectly obvious to them which foodstuffs originate from the USA and which foodstuffs originate from the UK!
Yes, there will be a great difference in price!
But there will also be a great difference in quality!
It is all very well for well to do, upper middle class members of the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats to condescendingly instruct struggling working class parents to purchase “farm friendly, free range, organic produce”.
Let us be clear: There are young ladies who are single parents – who receive NO financial support from errant, feckless fathers – who regularly go without food so as to ensure that their children do not go hungry.
Intensively reared “chlorinated chickens” fed on GM modified feed may not be to everyone’s taste; but if it is very cheap and enables a desperate and hungry young lady to feed her children and give herself a meal, then the BG is all for it!