The Government has associated leaving the EU with the opportunity to encourage the public sector to “buy British” and reduce environmental costs. It is, however, clear that even under EU rules, the UK already had opportunities to support British suppliers through proxy measures, such as specifying “local” and “seasonal” in procurement. This had the potential to provide greater environmental benefits, such as reduction of food miles. We are disappointed that those opportunities were not maximised before EU Exit and we expect the Government to make more effort in future.