The British Retail Consortium - The Missing Link In England's Supermarkets' Anti-England Attitude?

You know what it's like. You've written to Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrison's, Asda, Marks and Spencer and the Co-op about their refusal to label English products as English, nonsensically labelling them "British" whilst excluding the Scots and Welsh from that by marking them with Scots and Welsh flags. You've signed petitions, you've screamed, you've been ignored.

All of the major supermarkets in England seem determined to ignore England's existence whilst merrily displaying Scots and Welsh flags on their product packaging and slogans like "Morrison's - Proud To Serve Scotland".

Lately, there has been some hope that Sainsbury's may be about to launch a few clearly flagged English lines, but Tesco has hardened its face against England, proclaiming that "English inhabitants" feel more British than English, and using this dubious finding as an even more dubious reason to delete those very few lines they do have that are marked "English".

Alfie discovered the facts, and Fair Flags ran the story, along with several other sites, including this one. Maria discovered an interesting comment in the Fair Flags comments thread, pointing at a possible factor for this anti-English attitude in supermarkets across England. It's an organisation called The British Retail Consortium. The comment states that Alistair Darling has a finger firmly stuck in this pie, and a little investigation by Maria has thrown up the fact that the Consortium has British, Brussels, Scottish (of course) and London departments, but no English department - nor yet a Welsh one - although the Welsh Assembly does have input, as does the Northern Ireland Office.

Is this the missing link - the organisation orchestrating our supermarkets' and English food producers' growing anti-England bias (think Dairy Crest)?

Because something certainly is.

Fair Flags Campaign

A dream come true - at last a blog dedicated to the issue of our supermarkets' outrageously unfair treatment of England.

Tesco, Sainsbury's, Co-op and Asda Scottish Bias - A Polish View

Asda - anti-English, Scottish exalting labelling - also at Tesco, Sainsbury's and the Co-op.

I was discussing the major supermarkets' anti-English bias with my Polish neighbour this morning. She creased her brow in puzzlement: "This makes me curious. Scottish labels and British labels? What are the Scots if they are not British? Where are they from?"

Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda And The Co-op Pander To Anti-English Racists In Scotland And Wales

We often fume over the anti-English packaging in our big three supermarkets, and the fact that such bias is shown towards the Scots and occasionally the Welsh. Well, Scilla Cullen, of the Campaign For An English Parliament, has been finding out why. Apparently, Asda, Tesco's, Sainsbury's and the Co-op won't label thing as "English" because anti-English Scots and Welsh bigots won't buy them. These are a tiny proportion of the population and should not be pandered to in any way shape or form. But, according to England's biggest supermarket chains, "English", "England" and the St George's flag must not appear on the packaging to appease racists.

This makes the supermarkets appear to be anti-English bigots themselves.

Don't buy Tesco, Asda, Co-op or Sainsbury's if you can avoid, and boycott their "proudly marked" Scots and Welsh produce if you do have to go in.

Racism is wrong.

The anti-England/English Scots and Welsh bulldozer currently devastating several key areas of our lives, not least our politics and rights as shoppers, must be stopped.

Read the CEP's findings here.

Anti-English And Absurd Asda

Seeking a supermarket that does not flag up Scottishness and ignore Englishness, we today tried our local Asda. We hadn't gone far into the store, when my wife called: "Look at this!" And we saw the above labels. The usual thing. British and Scottish as separate entities.

As always, we reflected that the whole "British" nationality actually came about because of the union of Scotland and England, and that the Saltire is also featured as part of the Union Flag.

We're aware that some English cheese on sale in Asda bears the Cross of St George. And we're well aware of the effort made by one individual to achieve this. But elsewhere Asda is failing as dismally as Tesco and Sainsbury's to recognise the fact that England exists, and deserves the same recognition as Scotland.

We found the labels pictured above absurd and offensive.