A County councillor says Jeremy Clarkson’s opinion piece is “spot on” as he defends farmers following the council’s decision to serve only vegan food at its events.
In December, Green Councillor Ian Middleton tabled a motion to ensure that all food provided at Oxfordshire County Council’s events would be "entirely plant based".
The motion also seeks to see more plant-based menus available on school lunch menus for "at least two days per week" - it hopes to encourage students to "be empowered" when making food choices at schools.
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The owner of Diddly Squat Farm Shop hit back at Oxfordshire County Council and defended the county's farmers in an opinion piece in The Sun.
Conservative councillor Liam Walker said the change to a vegan diet is being “forced upon us” and local farmers should be supported.
Mr walker said: “Jeremy Clarkson is right importing an avocado from hundreds of miles away when you have got great local farmers just outside Oxford doesn’t make sense at all.”
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He added: “If they are going down this route, they need to source locally vegan options, but I think they also need to have a meat option, which is what we tried to put in as an amendment, but they voted against it. It is just gesture politics.”
Liz Leffman, the leader of Oxfordshire County Council said the change is not about veganism and explained the council wants to have seasonal “plant-based” meals for health and environmental reasons.
Mrs Leffman feels Mr Clarkson is “exaggerating” the problem. She said: “We have said that we want to support local farmers and we plan to make this an exciting opportunity to demonstrate just how flexible and full of variety eating plant-based food can be.”
However, she does have some sympathy for Mr Clarkson.
She said: “I have a good deal of sympathy for him; he has brought to front of people’s minds some of the issues farmers face in this country and I do appreciate that. But I think he paints us as being very extreme, we are not I am neither vegan nor vegetarian myself, but I still want to include more plant-based foods in my diet.”
The motion was passed and is set to go to Cabinet for the final decision in the spring.
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