Government says Northern Irish produce will be included if consumers tick a 'buy British' button on supermarket websites

The news emerged on Thursday night after UK farming minister Steve Barclay announced a planned overhaul of how food is labelled, to emphasise the origins of UK-made goods.

He said that the government will now “rapidly consult” on the matter.

His speech only made vague reference to a “buy British” button though; he merely said at one point that he wants to “improve how origin information is given online”.

This was after a number of news agencies had trailled the contents of his speech in advance (based almost certainly on briefings they would have received from official sources); in Sky News’ coverage for example, it said that Mr Barclay plans to “speak with major online retailers about ways of helping customers understand where their food comes from, including the option of a ‘buy British button’ on supermarket websites”.

Asked directly by the News Letter if any such “buy British button” would indeed filter people’s purchase options so that Northern Irish-made products were displayed alongside GB ones, the Department of the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs has now said for definite that it would.

However, it remains uncertain whether the government envisages including Northern Ireland in a plan to change the physical labels on food.

During his speech, Mr Barclay made reference at different times to “British” and “UK” producers when discussing the new labelling regime which he plans to consult on.

This new regime would be designed to distinguish between home-grown, high-animal-welfare products from foreign imports with lower standards.

"British farmers are rightly proud of producing food that meets and often exceeds our world-leading animal welfare and environmental standards,” he said.

"And British consumers want to buy this top-quality food.

"But too often products produced to lower welfare standards overseas aren’t clearly labelled to differentiate them.

"This is why I’m pleased to announce that we will rapidly consult on clearer labelling so we can tackle the unfairness created by misleading labelling and protect farmers and consumers.

"This will explore how we can better highlight imports that do not meet UK welfare standards, improve how origin information is given online, and look at how we can do even more to ensure promotional activity such as Union Jack labels on supermarket displays matches the products on the shelf...

"We will also explore whether existing country-of-origin labelling rules can be strengthened by mandating how and where origin information is displayed.

"For example, on the front of packs, meaning farmers are fairly rewarded for meeting and often exceeding high UK welfare standards.”

Although at one point in his speech he cited Northern Irish beef producers as being among those who “make this country competitive globally”, given his mixed references to both “British” and “UK” producers, the News Letter asked for clarity about whether the government wants Northern Irish food to be covered by any new place-of-origin labelling, or if this will just apply to GB products.

No clear answer had been received at time of writing.