A campaign for a ‘Buy British’ section on supermarkets’ online stores supported by Warrington South MP Andy Carter has achieved its first major success as Morrisons confirmed proposals to launch a ‘British’ section online.
In August 2023 the Warrington South Member of Parliament and 120 other cross-Party MPs signed an open letter calling on supermarkets to highlight the very best of British produce by implementing a ‘Buy British’ section online.
The letter stated ‘Our ask is simple, create a tab that collates produce from farmers,’ citing consumer choice, environmental benefits and support for farmers as reasons to make the change.
Now, Morrisons Chief Executive Rami Baitiéh has written to MPs to “confirm that we have implemented a ‘British’ section to morrisons.com which enables customers to quickly navigate to British [produce]” such as meat, fish, vegetables and dairy products.
This new section of the website, which groups together key British lines, can be found via the ‘Shop Groceries’ drop-down menu on the morrisons.com homepage, with Morrisons saying they “intend to continue developing this section of the website and highlight new lines as they come into season and customer focus.”
Since writing the open letter over 27,000 people have signed a National Farmers Union (NFU) petition in support of a ‘Buy British’ section online and on Back British Farming Day, September 13th, the Government endorsed the campaign and called for industry-led action by supermarkets.
Mr Carter said: “I applaud Morrisons for their leadership on this campaign and putting our farmer’s interests first.
“The reaction to this campaign has been overwhelmingly positive, with food producers across the United Kingdom supporting the call and consumers asking why supermarkets weren’t doing it already. Now you can walk into their Stockton Heath store and find items branded with a ‘produced in the UK’ label, and easily navigate the website to find the same information.
“I trust other supermarkets will implement the ‘Buy British’ section soon.”
Steve Barclay, Secretary of State for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs, said: “Our farmers produce simply the best food in the world and it’s great for shoppers to have clear information about the choice to buy British, and opt for high-quality and exemplary animal welfare standards.
“Supermarkets do a huge amount to promote great British food and it is good news they are now finding innovative ways to make it easier to pick British and to back our farmers.”
Minette Batters, President of the National Farmers Union, said:“It’s great to see Morrison’s launching a ‘British’ section online to signpost shoppers to British produce – something we have been asking retailers to commit to since 2016.
“We know from our own independent survey that 86% of the public want to buy more British food and this simple change with an online button will help shoppers just do that. I hope today’s news will pave the way for other supermarkets to follow suit.”
