Over 70 people attended a meeting in Paisley about Keep Scotland the Brand is a positive, inclusive campaign which promotes and supports food producers from Scotland including farmers, fishermen, distillers who have worked successfully for decades to build up Scotland’s reputation as a quality brand which can be trusted.
Initially the meeting was meant to be for local members of Paisley Tannahill SNP but so many people expressed an interest in it, and considering that it is a party-neutral, inclusive and positive campaign, it was quickly decided to make it a public meeting open to all.
The founder of the campaign, Ruth Watson has already travelled the length and breadth of Scotland promoting this campaign and has even spoken to the Scottish Affairs Committee in the House of Commons about it.
Bruce MacFarlane told Renfrewshire News: “It was great that the founder of the Keep Scotland the Brand campaign came to Paisley to highlight the importance of this campaign.
“There was a great turnout for this meeting which showed that the public has an appetite for this campaign and realise the importance of clear labelling on food as a way to recognise the quality of the produce they are sold.”
Bruce, who is Convener of Paisley Tannahill SNP branch who organised the public meeting, added: “A key objective is to protect and support Scotland’s brand identity and not to hide the source of our goods under a homogeneous ‘British’ label and flag. Clear provenance does not require flag-waving, it requires prominent labelling.
“One member of the public said that although he was politically active and had attended lots of public meetings, he felt that Ruth’s talk was one of the best he’s ever heard.”
Councillor Kenny MacLaren, secretary of Paisley Tannahill SNP, said: “We try to get a wide range of guest speakers to our branch meetings and initially Ruth was just coming to one of our meetings. However, when we were putting out leaflets for this campaign and realised the public interest in the issue we decided to open the meeting up to the public and let as many people as possible know about the Keep Scotland the Brand campaign.”
Ruth Watson, the founder of Keep Scotland the Brand, said: “Keep Scotland the Brand is not a boycott campaign. It is a positive move to support the people who put GM-free food on our tables: Scotland’s farmers and fishermen. Scotland’s food standards are amongst the highest in the world. Currently, thanks to EU regulations, it doesn’t matter if you buy a ‘Value’ product or something from the ‘Finest’ range in a supermarket, the standard that food has been produced to is the same.
“The Americans are demanding the UK lowers its standards to allow their food and drink to be sold here in post-Brexit trade deals. Americans have 40% higher rates of food poisoning per head of population than we do because their industrialised animal husbandry is significantly poorer than the farming and slaughter practices in Scotland. Clear food labelling will be crucial for consumer confidence and choice.
The free event was held at the Methodist Hall in Paisley on Saturday 2nd March 2019.