To ask how important it is to buy things made in your own country?

[FortunesFave]

To you I mean.

Do you ever choose something over another item because it says it was "Made in England" or wherever you live?

If so, what are your reasons?

@TravellingTilbury

Ylfa I made a point (in response to one of your posts) about why it could be desirable to continue with certain industries and manufacturing. I'm sure this would apply to other countries too. It's thought provoking.

However, I'm going to disengage because you seem to have an agenda and are coming across mighty angry and a stirrer.

I am a tiny bit grumpy lately 😀 but I’ll take that upgrade to mighty angry as it sounds much better!

I try to buy local in-season produce as much as possible, not only to support local farmers and shops, but to reduce the carbon footprint of long-distance transport.

I think it's easier to start and think about it around food as, beyond packaging sometimes, food can be the whole product whereas if we're talking a manufactured good things can get more complicated. I mean, today I bought pencils, pens, and markers -- the materials for those things came from all over the world even if they say made in the UK, many of the components I've no idea how to trace even for something as basic as a pen. These things can get complicated fast before even getting to how some businesses actively try to hide their supply chains to market an idea of British-made that isn't as clear-cut as that.

I do support businesses like Hodmedod that are expanding what foods are grown in the UK and I use them a lot for seeds and similar. Something that was posted on a MN thread similar to this ages ago that stuck with me was the questionable ethics of taking energy-dense particularly protein rich foods from poorer parts of the world which tend to be the ones that become popular as healthy meat replacements when we can grow the same nutrients here, if not the same foods, especially when there have been multiple scandals related to that where the farmers end up on losing end. So now I do make an effort when looking at health foods particularly to look for what they're actually trying to sell me and what like that can I get in the UK. Sometimes it's just not picking up the bag in Holland and Barrett and ordering from farms instead, other times it's considering a different food or seeing a lot of it is just marketing.

To promote and support employment in this country. You can’t bang on about poverty and the disadvantaged and then support sweatshops in Bangladesh or the plastic factories of Wuhan.

Trust babdoc to turn any thread into an exercise in Scotland bashing.

I do make an effort to buy british, its greener, more ethical and supports the economy. .However it's not always possible.

In try to buy British made.
I replaced my sofa and choose a British made one over a cheaper dfs import.
I also have some other British made furniture a lot of it though was bought secondhand or as the trendy call it retro.

Even if you buy a Ford made in Dagenham, it's likely to have an engine made in Spain

It is almost 20 years since the last car rolled off the Ford assembly line in Dagenham. The factory now makes engines, but only employs about 2,000 workers, compared with 40,000 in its heyday.

If an item has been produced in the UK then I can trust that people were probably not exploited to produce it…
Someone making your toys, pushchairs, furniture etc in the UK will be paid £25k+ …

metro.co.uk/2020/07/06/boohoo-accused-slavery-leicester-factory-workers-paid-3-50-hour-12951239/

www.bbc.com/news/business-48226187

While these articles are about textile factories, the issues of piece-work payments, zero-hours contracts (and no contracts at all) and outworkers are the same in many other industries.

Meanwhile, on the government front benches there are now four authors of Britannia Unchained - Truss, Raab, Patel and Kwarteng. The thrust of their argument is that by 'unchaining' the UK from the environmental, consumer and employment laws that currently protect the consumers and workers, Britain can again prosper. Only by turning the UK into a sweatshop economy can the country compete with the other sweatshops of the world.

Sunak is proposing something similar - Free Ports, where certain areas of the UK are deemed to be outside of UK legislation, and where companies would be able to set up factories without the requirement to adhere to UK employment and environmental laws and with lower tax levels. Think about this when your employer closes the factory you work in in Derby or Doncaster and relocates it to a Free Port - for example to the former Ford factory at Dagenham, which is one of the proposed sites.

lol, fair play Ylfa!

It's very important but quite hard to do and often costs more when you do find something UK made. I try to do it to preserve UK employment.
Also just buying a traditional UK brand doesn't always work, for instance John Lewis sell some Arthur Price Old English cutlery which is actually made in the UK; but the same range can also be made elsewhere say China. Ditto Denby pottery - the chunky stuff is made in the UK but the white range is 'globally sourced' lol.
I am old enough to remember when M&S used to advertise on banners in store that the bulk of their clothes were UK made.

Yes, I look and try and buy in season and locally where possible. It's difficult for manufactured goods as so much is made in China unfortunately, but I do try or if not I support the local supplier of the product rather than, say, Amazon.

@Ylfa

I wouldn’t buy or drink wine from anywhere outside Italy, France, Spain and possibly maybe Germany after learning too much about new world production methods. But I rarely eat anything nice enough to go with wine and it just doesn’t work as a beverage.

YABVU not to drink British wine. It’s delightful and the sparkling is so good tattinger that worried that they’ve started buying up land to produce their own here! www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2019/06/champagne-taittinger-expands-english-vineyard-ahead-of-first-harvest/

Yes, I do try to buy local, and in addition have loads of other complicated criteria for other ethical reasons and other products.

I also boycott all sorts of companies and some countries.

So shopping takes a while sometimes .

@Skysblue

Depends what it is. For a dehumidifier I definitely wanted one made in UK so it works on UK level of humidity not eg Korean. For cars or anything technical I want German (not French 😬). For pasta/cheese I’d choose Italian or French over British, but for anything fresh (esp meat) I want British/Irish so it hasn’t traveled as far. I won’t buy food eg nuts from China (although will from Vietnam). Toys made in North Europe tend to last longer than toys made in Asia. Waterproofs from Scandinavia are brilliant and way better value for money than what I got in UK. Tiles from Italy/Spain were way better than what I could find from UK and worked out cheaper even including delivery.

I know its off topic but for tradesmen I won’t hire again the plumber who had union jacks all over his website - he was not a nice guy to deal with. For builders a friend said that East Europeans will get on with the job fast and work hard, while Brits will complain all the time and run late with the job - having had experience of both, all the cliches seemed to be true and I’d hesitate to hire a British builder again tbh I can’t deal with all the whinging. 😳

Why do favour German cars?

@PracticingPerson

Yes, I do try to buy local, and in addition have loads of other complicated criteria for other ethical reasons and other products.

I also boycott all sorts of companies and some countries.

So shopping takes a while sometimes .

I have this issue - running out of companies to boycott !

@DynamoKev and I get stressed when people buy presents for me in case they are from companies on the naughty list

I always check where something is made. I've just been looking at garden furniture and I prefer being UK made. I always try to buy UK produced food, especially cheese

I am not in the UK but I do try and buy as locally as possible. I also try and eat seasonally to facilitate that.I'm constrained by availability and budget but I support the idea.

It's interesting how many people do support this kind of localism but then argue for free trade though.

@Babdoc

Petty, I know, but I always buy food labelled British rather than Scottish, if there is a choice, and particularly go for products with a union jack on the packaging! I’m English, a staunch Unionist, and have lived in Scotland for 45 years. When the SNP were screaming for a boycott of Tunnocks tea cakes, for daring to label them British, I bought extra. So did a lot of people - sales went up 33%. With non food items there is rarely a truly British option, as so much manufacturing has been outsourced to cheaper factories abroad.

You're right, that is petty. What's wrong with Scottish food being labelled as Scottish?

I think it's important in order to help local employment

And the overall economy obviously

I live in Australia and buy all fresh produce (fruit and veg) from here, meaning seasonally. All processed food that has non-Au elements but is manufactured here has to say so.

Where possible we buy US made products to support pour local economy and reduce the distance things have travelled. We are very fortunate that the US is so large with such a varied climate so pretty much everything grows here, including things the UK had to import such as pineapples, lemons, olives, and so on. But I have to say I do cheat and but imported cheeses and chocolate from Europe. Cheese over here is just a disappointment. And as for American chocolate, it should be banned it’s so awful.

After we bought our new car in December I found out by chance that that it’s the most American vehicle you can buy with more domestically made parts than any other. I found that interesting and makes me even more pleased with our purchase.

We bought some new hi-fi a few years ago. I didnt set out to buy British as assumed we wouldn't be able to, but was surprised we could so that was a bonus

I'm currently wearing a watch that was made in England

Havanananana

Have you read up about charter cities as well? Freeports on steroids. Low tax/no tax for everyone, not just corporations, and no entitlement to any benefits. That's one of the proposals doing the rounds.