Churches have an opportunity to influence Scottish Government policy on food, if they act quickly.

From Nourish Scotland:

In the September 2016 Programme for Government the SNP annuounced they would continue with their manifesto commitment to bring forward a Good Food Nation Bill.

Nourish, along with the Scottish Food Coalition, have beeen campaigning for framework legislation for the food system to ensure a coherent and connected approach to food policy, which facilitates a just transition to a fair, healthy and sustainable food system.

We’re excited to see the Scottish Government introduce this Bill and will be reaching out to civil society and politicians in the coming months to ensure it’s transformative legislation that works for people.

The SNP, Scottish Labour and the Scottish Greens made manifesto commitments to a Bill that would read across food, farming, health and other issues. This was partly in response to the ‘Plenty’ report from the Scottish Food Coalition. Members of the Scottish Food Coalition include Nourish Scotland, RSPB, Unite, Unison, Soil Association, Scottish Crofting Federation and many more.

The consultation on the new bill will be launched at the end of this year and will be announced on https://consult.scotland.gov.uk/ . The consultation will run for at least 12 weeks, but by then it will be too late for churches to have a say in what is actually included in the bill.

Eco-Congregation Scotland would like congregations to contact their MSP’s as soon as possible and ask for sustainability to be central to any national food policy and the bill. Congregations might also want to raise issues about food prices and fairness of access to good quality food.

This could be by letter or in person. If you do not know your MSP or are nervous about contacting them there is support available from the Scottish Churches Parliamentary Office Meet Your MSP project: http://www.scpo.scot/meet-your-msp/