Herbert will be the countryside's voice in the Shadow Cabinet
James Forsyth 7:52pm
When Nick Herbert was moved from Justice to Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs, which is essentially the old Ministry of Agriculture Food and Fisheries, in the Tory reshuffle there was disappointment among reformers who felt that his talents could have been better used elsewhere, most notably the Department of Communities and Local Government. But Herbert is bringing some much needed policy innovation and energy to this brief; his predecessor Peter Ainsworth was far too anonymous.
Today’s policy proposal on food labeling strikes the right balance between informing the consumer of where their food has come from and avoiding crass food nationalism. Combined with last week’s proposal to create a market in bio-credits it is an impressive start.
Interestingly, Herbert—who was a key player in both the pro-hunting and anti-Euro campaigns—is also planning to bring a more campaigning approach to this brief. Expect to see Herbert using the position as a kind of rural representative in the Shadow Cabinet.
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phil
February 17th, 2009 12:45am Report this commentChange your headline!!!!!
Herbie Goes Straight Bananas
February 17th, 2009 8:40am Report this commentWell, if Mr Herbert was a "key player in the anti-Euro campaign", he should know that such plans for food labelling offend EU law. Is he stupid or dishonest?
http://openeuropeblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/cautionary-label.html
Frank
February 17th, 2009 11:55am Report this comment@Herbie Goes Straight Bananas: I live in Germany and virtually all food is labelled with its country or countries of origin (cucumbers: from Spain or the Netherlands; beef: from French bullocks and so on) or if from Germany frequently even its district of origin (milk from the Eifel).
Are the Germans breaking EU law?
Chris Miller
February 19th, 2009 6:13pm Report this commentShocking English - "where there food has come from" ? Good God.
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