THERESA May has ticked off the SNP Government for its “appalling” behaviour after MPs heard how officials in Edinburgh had bullied Marks and Spencer over its use of the term ‘British’ and in displaying the Union flag.
The issue was raised at Prime Minister’s Questions by Conservative backbencher Luke Graham, who, to Tory cries of disbelief and anger, asked if Mrs May shared his surprise as a former M&S employee at the Scottish Government’s actions.
“Would she stand with me against this petty bullying and support companies that are proud of Scottish and British produce?” asked the MP for Ochil and South Perthshire.
The PM said she agreed with her Conservative colleague and that everyone should be proud of Scottish and British produce.
“It is frankly appalling that the Scottish Government don’t want to see the Union Flag and the word 'British' on produce.
“And not only is it appalling but it failed to reflect the vote that took place in Scotland that showed that people in Scotland want to stay part of the United Kingdom,” she added to Tory hear hears.
Last week, the Scottish Tories claimed Marks and Spencer was “leant on” by officials who contacted the company after it labelled whisky and Scottish gin as products of the “United Kingdom”.
After M&S changed its website to include Scotland, officials suggested Rural Affairs Secretary Fergus Ewing “would respond positively” if the firm tweeted its correction.
The row dates back to November, when M&S was criticised for “Union Jackery”, listing the country of origin for some of its Scottish spirits as the UK.
A freedom of information release showed a senior official in the Scottish Government‘s Food, Drink and Trade Division contacted M&S to “get some more info” after press coverage.
The next day, after the official had spoken to M&S by phone, the company said the listing had been “an unfortunate mistake” and been rectified online.
The official replied: “Do you guys plan to send any tweets [or something] to clarify the situation? Just wondering as I’m sure if you did Mr Ewing would respond positively.”
In January, Mr Ewing’s officials prepared a briefing for him ahead of a meeting with M&S, which referred back to the website issue.
It said civil servants had spoken to the firm “to seek clarity on the situation”, M&S had “urgently investigated” and that the Scottish Government had then invited M&S to meet Mr Ewing in person.
Last week, a Scottish Government spokesman said: “We appreciate the commitment that M&S and many other major retailers make to Scottish high-quality food and drink. These documents show we raised concerns with the company in a constructive manner.
“Scotland’s food and drink sector is a huge international success story and it’s vital it’s promoted,” he added.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel