Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) whether they plan to reduce the amount of food imported to the UK, (2) if so, what their target is for such a reduction, and (3) how they plan to achieve any such reduction.

Our food security depends on supply from diverse sources, strong domestic production as well as imports from stable sources. We produce 64% of our entire food supply need, and that increases to 77% for indigenous food that we can grow or rear here in the UK for all or part of the year. These figures have been steady over the past 20 years.

UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements our excellent domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK’s overall security of supply.