Wednesday 30 September 2026 5:03 am  |  Updated:  Tuesday 29 September 2026 5:59 pm

The state wants to ‘buy British’. But the British don’t want to work with the state

By: Joe Hill

Share

Facebook Share on Facebook X Share on Twitter LinkedIn Share on LinkedIn WhatsApp Share on WhatsApp Email Share on Email

The government’s drive to ‘buy British’ is futile if British companies don’t want to sell to them, writes Joe Hill

In January 1968, five typists in Surbiton offered to work an extra half hour a day, unpaid, to help the economy. Within weeks “I’m Backing Britain” was a national campaign, complete with an endorsement from the Prime Minister, Union Jack logos everywhere and a theme song with the same name sung by Bruce Forsyth. It had fizzled out by the summer, in part because of attempts by Robert Maxwell to convert the campaign to “Buy British”, only for it to be undermined by the news that the campaign T-shirts were all made in Portugal.

Every party now wants us to back Britain again, and they want us to start with “buying British” – everyone from Andy Burnham to his Chancellor John Healey to Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick has........

© City A.M.