MEL Stride, local Member of Parliament for Central Devon, met with Sainsbury’s representatives in Westminster recently to discuss South West supply chains and employment.

Sainsbury’s is the second largest supermarket chain in the UK, with over 800 convenience stores, 600 supermarkets, and 148,000 employees.

Its supply chain is deeply ingrained in the South West, where it employs almost 13,000 people. In Central Devon Sainsbury’s sources from 259 beef farms and 17 chicken farms.

One of the supermarket chain’s core missions is to support domestic producers, and 100 per cent of its fresh pork, milk eggs, and organic lamb is British.

Sainsbury’s is also a huge contributor to South West charities, having donated 796,536 meals to local charities through their “Good Food For All Of Us” community grant scheme aimed at tackling food poverty by helping some of the most vulnerable in society access food.

Mel Stride, MP for Central Devon and Shadow Chancellor, said: “It was great to speak to the Sainsbury’s team today (November 25) about the positive impact they are having across the South West.

“Supermarkets have a duty to support British farming and food security by working in cohesion with their suppliers and I was pleased to have the opportunity to discussion this.

Having met with farmers from my constituency in Westminster just this week, I am keen to work with large retailers to ensure British farmers are being supported by supermarkets at a time when they need it most.”