Sir Keir Starmer’s safety first approach to winning the UK general election has left many unanswered questions over the new government’s approach to food and environmental policy. By Nick Hughes.
1. Will it revive the national food strategy?
Three years have passed since Henry Dimbleby published his widely acclaimed national food strategy for England in which he set out plans to tackle the ecological crises of climate change and nature destruction alongside the societal crisis of diet-related ill health. The big ideas in Dimbleby’s document, like those for a wholesale tax on sugar and salt and an updated reference diet based on sustainability as well as health criteria, were left untouched by the Conservatives and Dimbleby resigned from his non-executive role at Defra last year citing frustration with policy inertia. In its cautious manifesto, Labour did not join the Liberal Democrats and Green Party in committing to develop a comprehensive, national food strategy, raising the prospect of a continuation of light-touch, piecemeal policies. Yet, privately, experts say Labour is talking in bolder terms about food systems reform. If it’s the case, as reported by The Grocer, that Labour wants to bring Dimbleby back as an advisor to oversee key policies on health and the environment then the prospect of a holistic, more interventionist approach to food policy would increase markedly.
2. What are its plans for farmer support?
Labour has been similarly coy in public over its plans for farmer support. Pre-election, it did not join the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in pledging an increase in the farming budget, while a manifesto commitment to “make environment land management schemes work for farmers and nature” was characteristically vague. Farmers are beginning to get twitchy with the National Farmers Union warning of a “cliff edge” over future funding if Labour does not commit to at least maintain the agriculture budget at its current level. The new government will also need to provide some clarity soon over its plans for the supply of labour, including a seasonal worker scheme, and whether it intends to take forward Conservative plans to improve fairness in the fresh produce and egg sectors following the adoption of new rules for the dairy sector in 2023. More fundamentally, what does Labour mean when Defra secretary of state Steve Reed says he wants to support farmers to boost Britain’s food security? More self-sufficiency, including targets? Specific support for struggling sectors like horticulture? Restrictions on solar panels on agricultural land? More public payments linked to food production as well as the provision of environmental services, or support for farming systems like regenerative agriculture that integrate the two?
3. What does trade policy look like under Labour?
The Conservative government faced criticism across the board – from farmers to environmental groups – for a trade policy that prioritised quick deals that may at best deliver a marginal boost to GDP over the protection of high standards on health, the environment and animal welfare. The Liberal Democrat manifesto pledged to renegotiate the government’s widely criticised agreements with Australia and New Zealand and although there seems little prospect of Labour trying to navigate the legal and diplomatic minefield of unpicking these agreements, it has hinted at greater alignment with the EU on food standards to help remove barriers to trade. Labour’s stated intention to seek a new strategic partnership with India, including a free trade agreement, may prove the first test of its resolve in upholding domestic standards as a condition of doing business with Britain.
4. Is a more interventionist health policy on the cards?
Labour has moved swiftly to firm up two manifesto commitments by including restrictions on advertising of junk food to children and a ban on the sale of high caffeine energy drinks to under 16s within the King’s Speech. In opposition, the new health secretary Wes Streeting hinted at a tougher line on businesses selling unhealthy foods and health campaigners have reported positive engagement with Streeting and his team. Significantly, that team now includes a minister with prevention stated explicitly within his job title (parliamentary under-secretary of state for public health and prevention, Andrew Glynne). Yet the extent to which Labour will be prepared to take a hard line on obesity policies where a softer approach has failed remains to be seen. Voluntary reformulation programmes, for example, are currently withering on the vine having failed to deliver meaningful results and Labour is certain to face calls from campaigners for sugar, salt and calorie reduction targets to become mandatory and to make businesses set targets for the proportion of sales generated from healthier foods.
5. What next for the food data transparency partnership?
The Conservative government looked to have acted on a key Dimbleby recommendation when it established the food data transparency partnership in 2023, however the scope of the FDTP has since been watered down significantly. Reporting against key health metrics will no longer be mandatory as businesses set their own agenda for the health working group, while the short-term scope of the eco working group’s remit has narrowed to standardising scope 3 emissions reporting. Will Labour resuscitate Dimbleby’s vision for statutory reporting of key health metrics? And where does it stand on eco-labelling and on mandatory food waste reporting, a policy which enjoyed strong business support but was inexplicably axed by the former Defra secretary Therese Coffey?
6. Is reform of public procurement on the table?
One food policy on which the Conservatives and Labour were in agreement pre-election was on the need to reform government buying standards for food. Both parties have pledged to ensure that at least 50% of public sector food is produced locally or to higher environmental standards, however where the Conservatives dithered over implementing the policy Labour has a chance to push through the changes quickly and in so doing allow the new government to draw a contrast between its record of delivery and the Conservatives’ broken promises.
7. Have deforestation rules been binned?
One of the Conservative government’s few flagship food policies was to make it mandatory for large companies to carry out due diligence checks to ensure there is no illegal deforestation in their supply chains for forest-risk commodities such as soy, beef and palm oil. But the legislation never made it onto the statute book and there was no mention of it in the recent King’s Speech. Does Labour plan to resurrect the policy or is it consigned to the policy dustbin – for now at least?
8. Where does Labour stand on novel foods?
With a policy programme built around growth-led prosperity you might expect Labour to be a cheerleader for food innovation, but it was the Lib Dems rather than Labour who made the manifesto pledge to introduce a fund to support new and emerging technologies including the development of alternative proteins. In a European first, Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency recently approved the sale of lab-grown meat for use in pet food, while the Food Standards Agency received its first application to approve cultivated beef last summer. With the EU showing little sign of approving cultured meat for sale in the single market, the UK has an opportunity to become a genuine world leader in its regulation of these types of novel foods and attract much needed inward investment in the process. But does Labour plan to seize it?
9. How does it plan to untangle packaging and waste reform?
Along with a fraught set of economic indicators, Labour has inherited the Conservative legacy of a muddled, some might say chaotic, approach to packaging and waste reform. Policies relating to extended producer responsibility, deposit return schemes and consistent household collections have been in a near constant state of flux in recent years and businesses will be looking for a more joined up approach between the UK government and devolved administrations as new schemes continue to kick in during Labour’s first term in office. The Foodservice Packaging Association has noted with some concern that the Labour shadow minister with in-depth knowledge of the packaging brief, Ruth Jones, hasn’t been appointed to the Defra ministerial team, prompting questions over where it sits in Labour’s list of priorities for the environment.
10. Is growth at all costs compatible with nature recovery?
Widening the lens for a moment, there is a question over whether Labour’s dash for growth can go hand-in-hand with a compelling green agenda. Certainly there are apparent synergies in the creation of GB Energy as a vehicle to decarbonise the electricity system by 2030, but there are tensions too, most obviously between Labour’s plan to build 1.5 million new homes over the next five years and its obligations to nature recovery under the Environment Act. Labour has at least recognised this potential conflict: in a joint letter to environmental NGOs deputy prime minister and secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, Angela Rayner, and Defra secretary of state, Steve Reed, stressed that “this is not a matter of choosing one of these policies over another” and stated “we are determined to transform the system to ensure a win-win for housebuilding and nature”. Campaigners will be lining up to hold Labour’s feet to the fire over this promise and over its green commitments and rhetoric more generally.
