Esther McVey, Member of Parliament for Tatton, has met with representatives from County Milk Products at Parliament to discuss the growing pressures facing businesses across the food and drink sector.
County Milk Products, which has more than 30 years of industry experience and is headquartered in Wilmslow, operates both in the UK and internationally, with a fully integrated dairy supply chain spanning from farm to end customer.
The County Milk Products delegation was accompanied by the Provision Trade Federation, the national trade body representing food processing, manufacturing and trading businesses across a wide range of staple provisions.
“Food is the only one non-luxury in life and as humans, dairy is the perfect foodstuff,” said Philip Langslow, Director at County Milk Products.
The company was established by John Langslow in 1994 before moving to Worsley in Manchester a year later. In 1997, the company was relocated to Wilmslow which has been their HQ ever since.
Langslow added, “The low milk prices we are currently seeing may well lead to long-term structural damage to the dairy industry and more needs to be done to support the industry.
“At County Milk Products, we are investing the UK, but that is, in spite of, not because of the policies of the current administration which include taxation, national insurance rate hikes."
Director General of the Provision Trade Federation Rod Addy stated, “It was good to work in partnership with our member County Milk Products, a leading business in the UK dairy sector, and meet with Esther McVey MP in Parliament.
“We shared with her that in the UK food and drink sector, the volatility businesses are experiencing is unprecedented. While many of those increased costs include long term challenges such as energy prices, Covid-19 recovery and Brexit there has been a concerning growth in business outlays that are placing these major UK businesses under vast amounts of pressure.
“Rises in national insurance contributions, the national minimum wage and package waste disposal are examples of new Government measures that are impacting future investment decisions.
“We are encouraged that Esther shared these concerns. We’ll continue to work closely with her to ensure the issues impacting our members will be raised in Parliament.”
The Provision Trade Federation represents UK businesses who collectively account for roughly 20% of UK household expenditure on food (around £24 billion a year) and support some 130,000 jobs across the UK.
“It was great to welcome to Parliament the Provision Trade Federation and Country Milk Products, who have their UK HQ based in Tatton,” Esther McVey MP said after the meeting.
“They explained the challenges now facing the dairy sector, what with the increases to employer National Insurance contributions, minimum wage, new employment legislation and increased energy prices, which are all having a massive impact on day-to-day operations and future investment decisions.
“I’ll be working to ensure these important issues are raised in Parliament and the voice of the sector and local dairy producers are heard.”
The UK dairy industry is a significant agricultural sector, producing around 15 billion litres of milk annually from roughly 10,400 active farms.
It sees strong domestic consumption, especially for cheese, though facing challenges like falling farm numbers, consolidation into larger herds, and post-Brexit trade shifts, with recent trends showing increased production volume but ongoing price pressures and evolving consumer demands.