Country of Origin Marking

Jeremy Lefroy Excerpts

Monday 9th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Williamson]

That is a great tragedy, and it is common not just in food manufacturing. So many of the products that we see on the shelves of so many retailers right across the country are passed off as British when actually they are not. They are often manufactured to far lower standards. We have to take a lead on this issue.

I must confess that when I got this debate my heart fell slightly. In my heart of hearts I know that the Minister will probably not quite be able to give me answers that I so desperately want to hear coming from his lips—that he is a passionate believer in country of origin markings and that this is something that we will roll out as a Government, helping manufacturing businesses large and small, right across the country. I had a look through something that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills had produced setting out some of its concerns. I know that the Minister always listens closely to Members of Parliament, as we want to guide him away from the sometimes, let us say, constraining influence of officials and give him some exciting information to go back and challenge them with.

One thing that officials constantly say is that the benefits to consumers are questionable. I cannot understand how any official could ever say that the benefits to consumers were questionable, when all that we would be doing is telling them where products come from. What could be more pure, more innocent or more helpful to consumers than telling them about the integrity of the products that they are buying—that is, about whether they are right and true—or where they have come from? Officials will probably say that country of origin marking will increase costs. I assure the Minister that it will not, for the simple reason that companies that are significant producers in furniture manufacturing, domestic appliances, chinaware, glassware or other sectors will already have to do country of origin labelling if they want to export into the US, Japan, South Korea and China. I remember exporting an awful lot of chinaware to China, and I always had to put the country of origin on the product. There is therefore no extra cost to manufacturers, because we already do it.

I spoke just this morning to the chief executive of Royal Crown Derby, Hugh Gibson. I asked him, “Why do you want this country of origin marking?” and he said to me, simply, “Gavin, on every piece of ware that I produce, I put my Royal Crown Derby back stamp on it, and proudly, ‘Made in England’.” He added, “Other producers put their back stamp on products but no country of origin. I can only assume that they are ashamed of where they produced that product.”

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

My hon. Friend makes a powerful case. Does he agree that such labelling is in the interests of British exports? All around the world, whenever I pick up a coffee cup in a hotel, I automatically, as a true Staffordshire man, turn it over to see whether it has come from Staffordshire, whether from Steelite, Dudson or one of the other fine companies that the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (Joan Walley) so ably represents.

[Gavin Williamson]

We cannot forget that “Made in England” and “Made in Great Britain” have value for consumers in this country, but probably more so around the globe. If we are not seen jealously to guard the labels “Made in England”, “Made in Great Britain”, “Made in Staffordshire” or “Made in the West Midlands”, and show that they are important to us, why should they mean anything to the rest of the world? We need to show the world that we are proud of “Made in Great Britain”, but if we do not insist upon having such labels on our products, why should the world believe it?

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will probably say that it is difficult to enforce such a provision. However, if we introduced it initially to some sectors and then further, it would be self-enforcing, because businesses that are involved in the manufacture of the product will be on to trading standards immediately if they see any products that do not have country of origin marking. I must speak very highly of Staffordshire trading standards. I am sure that it and Stoke-on-Trent trading standards and many others throughout the country would be very proactive in enforcing the measure and in ensuring that the law and writ of the land is obeyed by all.

The Minister’s officials might say that businesses do not want such a measure, but manufacturers do. Oddly enough, retailers and importers do not want it, but 95% of companies that employ people to manufacture products in this country will say, “Yes, we want it. Yes, we need it,” because that labelling is showing our added value on the products that we produce in this country when we create British jobs.

I should like to extend an invitation to the Minister. I shall put a week of my recess aside to take him around as many manufacturing businesses that produce goods in this country as possible, so that he can listen to every single one of them say, “Yes, we want country of origin labelling on products so that people know that ‘Made in Britain’ means something in this country.”