Britain importing "staggering" levels of milk- Farron

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 20th Oct 2009

Britain is now importing a "staggering" amount of milk according to Shadow Defra Secretary Tim Farron MP, who has revealed that the UK now imports 50million litres more milk compared to just two years ago.

A parliamentary question tabled by Mr Farron revealed that the level of UK imports of liquid milk has increased from 84.4milllion litres in 2006 to 134.1million litres in 2008.

Mr Farron has criticised the food industry for importing such high levels of milk, warning that more dairy farmers will be forced out of the industry unless action is taken. Tim has reiterated his call for the introduction of an Independent Supermarket Regulator to encourage greater domestic production by ensuring UK dairy farmers are not offered below market prices

Commenting Mr Farron said:

"Britain is now importing record amounts of milk because our farmers are getting such a poor return for their efforts.

"This is a stupidly short-sighted attitude that will continue to undermine the UK dairy industry unless immediate action is taken.

"Supermarkets will continue to import millions of litres of milk without a second thought of the damage to our dairy industry because they know that will be able to cut their prices without cutting their profits.

"It's about time that the Government understood this and introduced an Independent Supermarket Regulator to bring fair trade for British dairy farmers and a fair deal for the consumer."