Gloucestershire County Council has been slammed for a campaign to encourage residents to switch from cow’s milk to alternatives. Nigel Farage branded the initiative “an utter load of complete nonsense” and criticised what he called “global warming lunatics”.
He told GB News: “I was offered oat milk or skimmed milk, and I didn’t want to cause a scene, but I just want bloomin’ cow’s milk. What is wrong with this?” The council’s Swaps in Seconds campaign aimed to offer easy solutions for people wanting to be more environmentally friendly.
Councillor David Gray, cabinet member for environment, said: “Dairy is one of the big producers of methane so our suggestion is every so often instead of having milk with your coffee, you have oat milk or soy and that way make a small difference in the overall impact of your lifestyle on the environment.”
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Mr Gray claimed that the campaign is not anti-dairy, adding: “We are not saying don’t touch milk. The campaign is all about small changes.” Local farmer Jacob James from Whole Moo World has slammed the local authority’s campaign.
“I do respect that the council has a positive intent in offering this guidance, but it is frustrating in farming that the guidance has been given to people based on evidence that fails to take into consideration any context,” he told GB News.
“When all these things are taken into consideration, the actual carbon impact for UK dairy farms comes down to about one kilo per litre. That is the same as oat milk, which is said at 0.9,” James said. “We can look back on the 1980s, there were three million dairy cattle in the country. Last year, I think it was estimated by HDB that there was less than two million,” he said.
A Gloucestershire County Council spokesman told GB News: “What we’ve published today is a series of swap suggestions for people to consider – from food, to transport to clothing. We didn’t mean to cause offence or to suggest people shouldn’t support their local farmers. We encourage everyone to go out and support their local farmers however people buy their milk and other local food.”