Baking industry APPG launched

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the baking industry was launched on 2 July 2025. It is apparently the first time that the sector has been represented this way.

The APPG is chaired by Steff Aquarone, the Liberal Democrat MP for North Norfolk, with Will Forster (LD, Woking) and Ben Goldsborough (L, South Norfolk) as an officer.  The APPG’s secretariat is being hosted by the Craft Bakers’ Association. The fourth officer, and list of industry organisations and companies represented in the group, are yet to be published. Further details will appear on the Register of All-Party Parliamentary Groups.

British Baker reported Aquarone saying: ‘Representing a rural seat with many UK wheat growers and small town high streets, I know just how critical bakers are to feeding the community and how much we need the supply chain behind them.’

Real Bread Campaign coordinator Chris Young, who attended the launch event at Portcullis House in Westminster, said: ‘I look forward to working with the rest of the group on issues that affect, or are otherwise related to, people within the baking industry, their suppliers, customers and wider communities.’

What is an APPG?

According to a guide on the Parliament website: ‘An All-Party Parliamentary Group consists of Members of both Houses who join together to pursue a particular topic or interest.’ The site goes on to note: ‘They provide a valuable opportunity for parliamentarians to engage with individuals and organisations outside Parliament who share an interest in the subject matter of their group. They are not however official parliamentary bodies.’

Background

Establishment of the APPG was driven by Caroline Kenyon, founder of The World Bread Awards and chair of the Greater Lincolnshire Food Partnership. In an email sent to Young in April 2025, enlisting the Campaign’s support for the creation of the APPG, Kenyon wrote: ‘During the lockdowns, when we ran the Bread Heroes campaign for bakers, farmers and millers, my photographer son Henry sprinted round the country in between lockdowns, photographing our regional winners. On his return, he observed that it was not the Church of England holding the country together, but bakers.’ She added: ‘I was amazed to discover that there is no All-Party Parliamentary Group to represent the baking industry.’