A campaign for a ‘Buy British’ section on supermarkets’ online stores supported by MP Bob Seely has first major success as Morrisons launches 'British' section online.
In August 2023, Mr Seely 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 MPs asked supermarkets to create a tab on their websites to collate produce from British farmers, citing consumer choice, environmental benefits and support for farmers as reasons to make the change.
Now, Morrisons Chief Executive, Rami Baitiéh, has confirmed that the chain has implemented a ‘British’ section online to enable 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.
Mr Seely said: “I am delighted that Morrisons have introduced a British section online and I applaud them for leading the way on this. I hope other supermarkets follow their lead.
“I’m always keen to support ‘buy local’ campaigns to support our local farmers and food producers and I encourage Islanders to shop locally this Christmas.”
Bob has also written to Isle of Wight supermarkets asking them to stock more Isle of Wight products.
He said: “At the moment only the Co-op make anything like a good enough attempt to stock Isle of Wight produce. We have over 50 food producers on the Island. The quality of their products is exceptional, amongst the best in the country.”
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.
