Sustain's Manifesto for a Better Food Britain

The food system in the UK employs 3.9 million people (13% of UK employment) and is worth £113 billion to GDP. A General Election will set the priorities for the next five years for this critical sector. The Sustain alliance want to see party manifestos across the political spectrum that improve the UK’s food system, providing the opportunity to improve millions of people’s lives; relieve the NHS of costly health problems; boost economic prospects for thousands of British farmers, fishers, businesses and communities; and help UK food contribute to national goals of preventing child obesity, improving animal welfare, slashing climate emissions to net zero and restoring nature.

In Sustain's Manifesto for a Better Food Britain, we set out our top ten priority areas (below) and our key policy asks within them:

1. Pursue the Brexit agenda in a way that minimises the impact on our food, farmers and fishers
2. Support sustainable farming and food producers
3. Commit to net-zero emissions from farming and land use, and to restoring nature
4. Restore the marine environment and sustainable fishing livelihoods
5. Cultivate a sustainable local food economy and jobs
6. Commit to ending hunger and guarantee everyone's right to food
7. Champion children’s food and health
8. Require all government and public sector food to be healthy and sustainable
9. Require food safety, standards and clear labelling
10. Ensure good food governance

The Sustain alliance’s Manifesto for a Better Food Britain sets out the policies that we believe would deliver on these ambitions, with information about the economic, health, sustainability benefits of adopting such policies, plus more details of how the policy could be implemented in practice. It was drawn up in consultation with members of the Sustain alliance, who have expertise and experience in the broad range of health and sustainability issues covered by the policy recommendations.