The rural fightback against ‘vegan-only’ councils

For more than a year now, the Countryside Alliance has been actively fighting back against council bans on meat and dairy, urging support for local food sourcing and freedom of choice.

Their campaign has achieved significant milestones, with 10 councils rejecting compulsory veganism at council meetings and events in favour of a more balanced approach that includes sustainable meat and dairy as well as plant-based options.

These councils, including Suffolk, Cornwall and Portsmouth, have committed to sourcing produce locally, benefiting local farmers and the community.

See also: Oatly to scrap its UK vegan drink factory plans

The campaign by the Countryside Alliance (CA) is centred on a motion which urges councils to support sustainable meat and dairy on their menus as well as plant-based options.

Additionally, the motion encourages councils to use their unique position to promote the importance to the public of shopping locally and supporting British farmers.

Mo Metcalf-Fisher, the CA’s director of external affairs, explains the rationale behind the motion.

“There are so many different groups that are trying to push compulsory veganism and want to force it on everybody,” he says. “Our motion is not anti-vegan; it’s actually inclusive of veganism.

“It’s very specific. saying in writing that plant-based options should feature alongside meat and dairy produce, but on the same principle: it’s sustainable, locally sourced, seasonal food.”

Policy ‘inconsistency’

Political parties, in the main, have been supportive of the CA’s stance, says Mr Metcalf-Fisher. But the alliance has started to notice some pushback from the Greens and “inconsistency” from Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

The CA says it is having “full and frank” conversations with Labour and the Lib Dems, amid concerns that both parties are “talking the talk” on farming but control local councils that are “complicit in undermining the livestock industry and heaping huge amounts of stress on the farming community”.

Labour and Lib Dem councillors have been supportive of the CA’s motion at councils such as Dorset and Suffolk, whereas Oxfordshire County Council, a Green-Labour-Lib Dem coalition with the Lib Dems at the helm, has led the meat and dairy ban in its council chambers and functions.

Devon farmer protest

On 17 July, North Devon Council voted down a motion tabled by Ricky Knight, a Green Party councillor, that would have seen the council switch to 100% plant-based catering for internal meetings and events.

The motion also called for the council to work with local farmers to support a shift towards plant-based produce. But it was heavily voted down following a protest by 30-40 local farmers. 

Recent developments at Calderdale Council in West Yorkshire serve as a crucial reminder of the importance of the CA’s campaign, which has been running since April 2023.

On 23 July, Calderdale Council leaders voted in favour of a proposal by the council’s Labour deputy leader, Scott Patient, to serve only vegan food at its events, despite some opposition.

Items such as ham, bacon, beef, cheese and dairy milk will now not be served at council events.

Calderdale Council will also promote plant-based diets as part of its Local Food Strategy.

Green councillor Elaine Hey says the decision is “hugely symbolic” and demonstrates a “significant act of climate leadership”.

But Calderdale Conservative Group leader Steven Leigh, while sympathetic to the intention of the move, says its implementation is “dictatorial”.

Commenting on the decision, Mr Metcalf-Fisher says: “Calderdale Council’s defence is that they are trying to set an example and this isn’t an attack on farming, but they’re not appreciating the gravity of their platform.”

Local authorities such as Calderdale reach many thousands of people, he points out, and their actions – however well-intentioned – are mobilising anti-livestock farming sentiment.

“They are not helping farmers taking the difficult decisions, not only to produce high-quality, sustainable meat and dairy products, but also doing huge amounts of work in the background” to benefit the countryside and nature, Mr Metcalf-Fisher notes.

The CA has noticed that sometimes councils’ decisions to adopt plant-based only menus are taken around Veganuary, the annual event in January that encourages people to adopt a vegan lifestyle, and often adopted by junior officers within councils.

Plant Based Treaty

Meanwhile, other city and town councils including Edinburgh, Lambeth, Norwich, Belfast, Exmouth and Haywards Heath have signed up to the Plant Based Treaty, an international movement which aims to promote a shift to plant-based diets and discourage animal agriculture (See panel “Plant-Based Councils campaign – what’s it all about?”).

The treaty includes demands such as removing meat and dairy from school menus and blocking planning requests for livestock-related farms.

Mr Metcalf-Fisher says: “It’s not really a treaty, but essentially signing up to a movement that wants to destroy livestock farming. By being part of that, you are complicit in it.”

The CA mentions an unnamed council which used global farming emissions data to support its decision to go vegan only, deliberately ignoring UK agricultural emissions which are much lower.

The council did eventually reverse its decision after the CA pointed out the error and asked for it to be removed from the Veganuary website.

Mr Metcalf-Fisher says councils adopting vegan-only menus have often made no conscious effort to have their decisions independently fact-checked.

“It’s essentially virtue signalling of the highest order,” he says. “It’s not always a political decision, but just someone in the back rooms who thinks it’s a nice idea. But it’s this whole ‘copy and paste’ mentality which is undermining livestock farming.”

The CA primarily advocates for countryside sports, but increasingly its portfolio is extending into this area of livestock farming.

“It’s becoming a huge part of our daily activity. We are getting more and more people sending us examples of how local councils and local authorities are undermining farmers and we’re having to challenge it as well as we can,” says Mr Metcalf-Fisher.

Universities and other public bodies, including schools and NHS Trusts, are also promoting plant-based foods at the expense of meat and dairy, the CA says.

NFU stance

The NFU says it regularly engages with local councils about the importance of supporting local supply chains, while emphasising the vital role farmers play at the heart of rural communities.

The union has also organised seminars with a range of food service providers, including with authorities, to discuss the benefits of meat and dairy.

NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “What we eat is a personal choice and decisions should be made in an informed way, taking into consideration the nutritional, environmental and biodiversity benefits that eating a balanced diet including meat and dairy provide.

“There have been some great successes, with councils including Suffolk County Council and Cornwall Council showing their support for local farmers by committing to proactively source local produce, and we will continue working with local authorities.”