Vegan meals row: Calderdale Council won't be 'sneaking into people’s houses to steal away their wafer-thin ham' as it moves forward with taking pork pies off the menu

The council’s cabinet members have agreed to support only supplying plant-based food at events it is paying for – effecting between six and 10 council events a year.

But all councillors will have to chew the fat over whether to take pork pies off the menu at council-funded events by debating the recommendation before the decision is final.

The issue has hit caused a stir on social media, with the National Farmers’ Union and Countryside Alliance drawn into the debate and questions for and again the proposal asked at yesterday’s cabinet meeting.

Cabinet member for Climate Action and Housing, Coun Scott Patient (Lab, Luddenden Foot) said, given some of what he had read, he needed to set out what the council would and would not be doing.

“We’re not going to be sending officers sneaking into people’s houses to steal away their wafer-thin ham.

“We’re not going to be policing people coming into the council bringing in normal milk or their own packed lunches.

“What we will be doing is providing plant-based catering at a very small number of events we run as a council and we will be trying to encourage people to think about their diet, to think about the impacts on local food systems and think about climate change and how food affects that in general,” he said.

Leader of the council, Coun Jane Scullion (Lab, Luddenden Foot) added: “I don’t think the world is going to end if the council takes a small amount of responsibility for reducing its carbon emissions as part of its commitment to tackling climate change.”

Vanessa Lee, the Conservative’s candidate for the Calder Valley Parliamentary seat, said the proposal demonstrated cabinet’s lack of support for local farmers and the rural community.

She said at the meeting: “The current proposal puts these communities at risk – it appears Labour is indifferent to their livelihoods and would rather see them face financial hardship.”

Coun Patient said he vehemently disagreed with that assumption and the council very much valued the contribution rural and farming businesses make to Calderdale’s economy and they had been involved in developing Calderdale’s Climate Action Plan.

“It’s a bit unlikely that the plant-based catering policy will have a significant impact on local livestock farming due to the very limited amount of catering the council does – I think we worked out it was less than around £2,000,” he said.

He added councillors had the chance to sample plant-based catering at the recent mayor-making event and feedback had been “really positive”, and the cost about a third of the usual catering bill.

NFU vice president Rachel Hallos, who farms at Beeston Hall Farm in Ripponden, has said: “It’s great that Calderdale Council have a keen interest in protecting our environment and our farmers share that ambition but removing certain products from our diets misses the point of a sustainable food system,” she said.

And the Countryside Alliance said: “We need our political leaders to reject this nonsense, back British farming and the vast majority of the public who enjoy meat and dairy as part of a balanced and healthy diet."