The UK Government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme opened this week. The idea is to give much needed support to cafes, pubs and restaurants which have been badly affected by the Covid-19 crisis, and to get people back to our high streets. Anyone buying food or non-alcoholic drinks at participating outlets will automatically get a 50 per cent discount off the price. This offer will be in place every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday throughout August and a full list of businesses taking part locally is here: https://www.visitmonmouthshire.com/blog/eat-out-to-help-out.aspx
There is no need to hand over vouchers as the money is simply deducted from the bill. This is a great opportunity to provide a boost to the struggling hospitality industry and I am looking forward to some hearty meals.
Whether bought from shop or restaurant, the food we eat in this country is quite rightly legally required to be produced to the highest public health and animal welfare standards. There have been suggestions that our high standards are under threat and the government has a secret plan to allow the country to be flooded with low quality cheap chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-injected beef from the US. This myth usually comes from the same sources which claimed a few weeks ago that the government “sold off” the NHS! I am pleased to say the NHS has not been (and never will be) sold off, and British food standards are enshrined in legislation. It is illegal to import chicken washed in chlorine or hormone-injected beef, and the government has no intention of changing the law.
A government document entitled “UK internal market” will probably not fly off the shelves and become a best seller. But its bland title hides its importance. Since 1707 the UK has operated as a single market and customs union, meaning goods produced in Wales, for example, could be sold in London, Edinburgh or Belfast without restrictions. When we leave the EU at the end of year the UK will be different in that there are now four governments instead of one. It is in the interests of all of us to ensure the different governments of the UK do not take any actions which prevent goods from moving freely across the borders of the nation states of Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland.
The “UKIM” consultation paper sets out how this will be done. Businesses and farmers may well want to have a quick look, and perhaps offer their thoughts on it to government. The document is online at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/901225/uk-internal-market-white-paper.pdf
*Published in the Monmouthshire Beacon on 5 August 2020 and the Abergavenny Chronicle on 6 August 2020*
Picture Caption:
David Davies MP and South Wales East MS Laura Anne Jones mark the launch of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme with Simon Key of the Nags Head in Usk.