Kerry McCarthy’s appointment as shadow environment secretary did not distract the Bristol West MP from her anti-food waste campaign, who continued to push the agenda on Twitter throughout the morning.
The launch of the MP’s Food Waste (Reduction) Bill in Westminster last week – obliging UK supermarkets to donate their surplus food to charities – has not gone unnoticed. The event drew cross-party consensus, with messages of support from Green Party’s Caroline Lucas, and significantly, Conservative recycling minister Rory Stewart.
How long this fragile alliance will last now Ms McCarthy finds herself on the front bench remains to be seen. There are already strong indicators that Mr Stewart would prefer to take a pro-business stance for supermarkets to sign-up voluntarily to the scheme.
Ms McCarthy, in contrast, wants more power to regulate donations where possible – a position that is unlikely to impress retailers, nor the AD sector given dwindling incentives and uncertainty surrounding future feedstock.
Whatever the outcome of the Bill, the industry should take consolation that food waste is slowly making its way up the agenda.
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