Buy British push: Labelling for food imports not meeting UK welfare standards considered
Imported foods may be labelled when they do not meet welfare standards, as the government considers measures to help shoppers “buy British”.
Environment Secretary Steve Barclay is set to announce plans to change labelling on goods to clarify if it is produced to the highest standards, as part of sweeping reform to support farmers.
Mr Barclay will also speak with major online retailers about ways of helping customers understand where their food comes from, including the option of a “buy British button” on supermarket websites.
He will say at the Oxford Farming Conference on Thursday: “British farmers take pride in producing food that meets, and often exceeds, our world-leading animal welfare and environmental standards.
“British consumers want to buy this top-quality food, but too often products produced to lower standards overseas aren’t clearly labelled to differentiate them.
“This is why I am proud to announce that we will consult on clearer food labelling so we can tackle the unfairness created by misleading labelling and protect farmers and consumers.”
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Mr Barclay is also set announce new support schemes for farmers, including paying them to maintain and upgrade footpaths, cycle paths and bridleways on their land as part of a push to get Britons outdoors.
They will also continue to receive support for items such as maps, way markers and fencing to mark out access, the government said.
Richard Benwell, CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said: “Reforms to enable consumers to reward farmers who stick to high animal welfare standards make sense for everyone.
“With over 200 million farmed animals in the UK, this policy is a win for farmers and for the public.
“By labelling animal food products to present information about the welfare of the animals involved, consumers can reward high welfare farmers.
“After a two-year delay to the progression of these popular and cost-effective changes, we now need to see swift progress to allow consumer choice to drive widespread improvements in the welfare of farmed animals.”
An influential committee of MPs is seeking COVID-19-style financial support for Jaguar Land Rover as it tries to recover from a cyberattack.
After a week of plant closures, the Committee for Business and Trade has written to the chancellor, asking her what is being offered to the carmaker “to mitigate the risk of significant, long-term commercial damage to affected firms”.
The 34,000 UK workers of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) are to remain at home until at least next week after a cyberattack discovered last week halted operations.
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Staff are still being paid from JLR sites in Halewood, Merseyside, and Solihull and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, but the entire economy around the West Midlands is affected.
JLR suppliers Evtec, WHS Plastics, SurTec and OPmobility have had to temporarily lay off roughly 6,000 staff.
Operations could be disrupted for “most of September” or worse, according to a report from The Sunday Times.
On Thursday, Business and Trade Committee chair Liam Byrne wrote to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, saying: “Firms across the supply chain are now warning the committee of disruption to both upstream and downstream businesses.
“This disruption, we are told, may imminently pose very significant risks to cashflow.”
Intervention, akin to the emergency steps taken to secure British Steel production, is suggested by Mr Byrne to “protect sovereign areas of strength in the UK’s industrial, scientific and technological base”.
A group of English-speaking hackers claimed responsibility for the JLR attack via a Telegram platform called Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters, an amalgamation of the names of hacking groups Scattered Spider, Lapsus$ and ShinyHunters.
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Four arrested over M&S, Co-Op and Harrods cyber attacks
Scattered Spider, a loose group of relatively young hackers, were behind the Co-Op, Harrods and M&S attacks.
Four people were arrested for their suspected involvement in the April attacks and have been bailed.
The Marks & Spencer (M&S) executive responsible for its technology function is leaving the retailer months after a devastating cyber attack which disrupted its systems at a cost of hundreds of millions of pounds.
Sky News has learnt that Rachel Higham, M&S‘s chief digital and technology officer, is leaving the company.
A former WPP and BT Group executive, Ms Higham was hired by M&S early last year.
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Her departure was announced in an internal memo circulated on Thursday.
In it, the company said she was “stepping back from her role”.
“Rachel has been a steady hand and calm head at an extraordinary time for the business, and we wish her well for the future”.
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July: Four arrested over cyber attacks
The April cyber attack on M&S, which was conducted by a group called Scattered Spider, brought its online operations to a halt, underlining the growing threat posed by such incidents.
Its click-and-collect service is now back up and running, and the retailer expects part of its costs to be covered by insurance.
M&S said early last month that it was not looking to replace Ms Higham following an enquiry from Sky News.
It was unclear who would succeed her in the role or whether she would be eligible for a payoff.
An M&S spokeswoman confirmed on Thursday that the memo was genuine but refused to comment further.
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