A Labour minister has been challenged over the Government’s decision not to launch a ‘buy British’ campaign to respond to Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Lisa Nandy was grilled on why a drive to support British businesses – similar to a campaign in Canada – has not been backed. The Culture Secretary insisted she did not want to be “lecturing” the public about what to buy.
It comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves made a similar remark in the Commons on Wednesday – sparking allegations she had “insulted” UK traders. Ms Nandy was pressed by BBC Breakfast host Jon Kay amid growing calls for the Government to back a campaign.
Mr Kay asked: “The Canadian prime minister is saying that Canadian people should buy Canadian. That’s a really proactive campaign by Canada, buy local to try and beat these tariffs. Why won’t Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves do a similar buy British campaign here?”
The Culture Secretary responded: “Well, lots of local councils around the country have been doing buy local schemes for a long time…” Mr Kay butted in: “So why won’t the Government?”
Ms Nandy said: “But look, rather than lecturing the British people on what they should do, what we’re doing is taking action ourselves. So if you look at something like Heathrow, where we announced Heathrow expansion only a few months ago, one of the things that the company has committed to doing with our support is using British SteeI in order to build that Heathrow expansion.”
She went on to say that the huge new Universal Studios UK theme park, which was announced today and is expected to create over 20,000 jobs, will showcase the best of British creativity.
But Mr Kay continued to press, saying: “Shouldn’t you therefore, if you’re so proud as championing British businesses – it’s not lecturing, it would just be a reminder for people at the checkout, you know, buy British. What’s wrong with that?”
The Government minister responded: “There’s nothing wrong with that. And I think most people would support that. And I’d like to buy British produce. And we have lots that is unique and distinct about British produce.
“But for too long we’ve had a government that is agnostic at best, agnostic about whether we use the considerable procurement power that we have in order to support British business, that that era has ended and we are taking a different approach.
“We are acting decisively to make sure that when we announce things like this great investment from Comcast and Universal, that we’re supporting British business as well.”
On Tuesday Ms Reeves warned against the UK becoming “inward looking” as she faced calls in the Commons to encourage the public to buy more British goods and produce. She said: “In terms of buying British, I think everyone will make their own decisions.
“What we don’t want to see is a trade war, with Britain becoming inward-looking, because if every country in the world decided that they only wanted to buy things produced in their country, that is not a good way forward.”
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokeswoman Daisy Cooper MP said afterwards: “The Chancellor’s comments are an insult to businesses being pushed to the brink by Donald Trump’s trade war. This is completely out of touch with the British people who are rallying behind local businesses in their time of need.
“Instead of talking down our high-streets, the Government needs to send a clear message to the White House that they stand squarely behind British businesses and against Trump’s damaging tariffs.”
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