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Fairtrade

Just a couple of weeks ago, I was speaking at the launch of a new organic food outlet called Café Senses at Edinburgh University. Managed and run by the students association, I was once again impressed by passion and dedication that young people have for promoting healthy and ethical food.

This café will support small, local farmers who produce to strict organic standards. 30% of the café’s food will be organic, 50% from local producers and 70% unprocessed. It’s great to see students getting healthy food at a decent price whilst also supporting ethical food at the same time.

I am proud that Edinburgh is leading the way as a Fairtrade city with schools, businesses and shops signing up to the Fairtrade movement.

Scottish Labour is committed to making Scotland one of the world’s first accredited Fairtrade Countries. As we work towards this goal, we will encourage a bottom-up approach to Fairtrade, with community involvement key in achieving our aimes. We will encourage towns, cities and universities to aim for Fairtrade status. Fairtrade is a model way of empowering people in the developing and the developed world – the producer and the customer.

We will build on the good work of the Co-operative movement, faith groups, local authorities and community groups to achieve this status, and will continue to work with them in order to ensure that Fairtrade continues to grow as a way of doing business. By promoting Fairtrade, we tackle global poverty, raising people's living standards, increasing investment in schools and hospital facilities, and protecting communities from environmental injustice.