Dr Luke Evans, Member of Parliament for Bosworth, was nominated for the annual Parliamentary Campaigner of the Year award for his call for supermarkets to launch a ‘Buy British’ button but lost out on the award to Lord Arbuthnot who campaigned for justice for sub-postmasters involved in the Post Office scandal.
People across the country were invited to nominate Parliamentarians across five categories (including an award for Parliamentary Staffer of the Year) for the annual Pagefield Parliamentarian Awards. Winners were selected by a panel of journalists from outlets including the Financial Times, the Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Politico and LBC.
Dr Luke received recognition following the success of his campaign which has seen seven major supermarkets create new online sections to sell ‘Best of British’ products, changing the way in which we shop.
Morrisons, Aldi, Sainsbury’s, Ocado, Co-op, Waitrose and Tesco have all launched ‘British’ or ‘Best of British’ sections online following Dr Luke’s letter. This leaves ASDA as the last supermarket with an online store to not yet implement a ‘Buy British’ section.
In August 2023 the GP-turned-MP wrote an open letter to the Chief Executives of supermarkets with online stores and asked that they implement a ‘Buy British’ section online which collates all British-sourced food and drink.
The local MP’s campaign aims to make it easier for online shoppers to buy homegrown produce, which Dr Luke says “will support our farmers and help consumers cut down on unnecessary food miles.”
Dr Luke’s letter was co-signed by 126 cross-Party MPs, supported by the National Farmers’ Union and received Government endorsement on Back British Farming Day.
Other nominees for the Parliamentary Campaigner of the Year award include: Lord James Arbuthnot and the Post Office scandal, Dame Diana Johnson MP and the contaminated blood scandal, Dame Maria Miller MP for her work on intimate image abuse, Lord Alfred Dubs who has called for a resettlement scheme for Palestinian refugees and Fleur Anderson MP who has campaigned against plastic in wet wipes.
Dr Luke Evans, Member of Parliament for Bosworth, said “I was honoured to be nominated for the Parliamentary Campaigner of the Year award for my work on the 'Buy British' button!
“It was really humbling and quite surreal to be considered among the likes of Lord Arbuthnot and the Post Office scandal, Diana Johnson MP for her work on the contaminated blood scandal and Maria Miller MP for her campaign on intimate image abuse.
“The evening was an incredible display of the hard work done by colleagues from all across the House and is testament to how MPs can work together to bring forward change.
“A very well-deserved win for Lord Arbuthnot who has campaigned for justice for the sub-postmasters affected by the Horizon Post Office scandal for more than 20 years.”
