Is it possible to live solely based on the UK supply chain?

[JonathanH]

Well, in my opinion, there should be a requirement for a proportion of value to be added in the UK supply chain. This has been missing, not just in rail for too long

The point made above suggests that government procurement should include a proportion of value from the UK supply chain. However, as individuals our actions are often not consistent with this ideal.

Given the offshoring of most of UK manufacturing over the last 30 years, how feasible would it be for an individual to solely buy products with a meaningful amount of value from the UK supply chain for everyday life now?

I'm guessing an individual would struggle to obtain electrical and technology goods, but may do better in other areas.

 

[DelW]

Even when items like cars are built in Britain, the components come from around the world. I recall hearing at the time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that many car wiring looms were produced in Ukraine, and there are no doubt many similar examples.

Clothing would be another difficulty. While I think that there is still a tailoring industry here, it must be mainly at the upper end of the market. Almost all the clothing I buy comes from countries in south east Asia.

 

[MP33]

There was an American family who tried to buy nothing manufactured in China. For children's shoes they had to purchase very expensive Italian hand made shoes.

 

[dgl]

Even take something like a vacuum cleaner. A Henry might be made in Britain but the motors come from Italy, the cable from China and the bags from Belgium amongst other things.

I suppose it pertinent to remember that very few, if any, countries have all the raw materials the modern world needs in the ground.
Plus demanding that x amount of a product be made in your own country for it to get funding can have disastrous consequences if the local workforce cannot build/make stuff as well as the manufacturer can in their own country.

 

[Bantamzen]

I'd say living entirely off UK's supply chain must just be possible, but as others have said owning most things like cars and appliances would pretty much be out. And in winter your diet would be somewhat limited to say the least.

 

[najaB]

Given the offshoring of most of UK manufacturing over the last 30 years, how feasible would it be for an individual to solely buy products with a meaningful amount of value from the UK supply chain for everyday life now?

If you're going all the way back to raw materials, then almost impossible if you want to maintain anything better than a medieval standard of living.

 

[simonw]

There was an American family who tried to buy nothing manufactured in China. For children's shoes they had to purchase very expensive Italian hand made shoes.

A Google of US made childrens shoes throws up a number of sites.

 

[Bald Rick]

On a similar vein, I recommend “America Unchained” by Dave Gorman, a story of his effort to drive coast to coast without spending any money at chain establishments (aka “The Man”), and to only use independent retailers.

 

[DarloRich]

Is it possible to live solely based on the UK supply chain?

NO - not unless you can have traceability on every competent of every item you buy? Where did the ore for that item come? What about the wood for that item? Where did your petrol come from? Your gas? Your electric? What about the pipe that brought you water..............

I'm guessing an individual would struggle to obtain electrical and technology goods,

EBAC make washing machines and fridge freezers in Newton Aycliffe but i bet they use imported parts.

 

[Snow1964]

And if you want to take it to extreme level, not only would you want your factory to use UK raw materials, but also build it using UK machinery, powered by UK electricity (not via interconnection from Norway or France), so got to select manufacturing date.

Virtually impossible to determine.

 

[Sun Chariot]

If you're going all the way back to raw materials, then almost impossible if you want to maintain anything better than a medieval standard of living.

You beat me to it. Our farmland is being sold off for housing estates, our primary industries (e.g. mining) and secondary industries (manufacturing) have been sold off or closed down.

 

[Jamiescott1]

Dom Joly did a TV series in 2009 similar to this. The synopsis reads
"One man… stripped of everything he owns and challenged to just buy British… Join award-winning television comedian Dom Joly on an epic road trip around Britain in an attempt to fill his house from top to bottom with British-made products in the brand new series Made In Britain."

 

[PeterC]

Even when items like cars are built in Britain, the components come from around the world. I recall hearing at the time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that many car wiring looms were produced in Ukraine, and there are no doubt many similar examples.

Clothing would be another difficulty. While I think that there is still a tailoring industry here, it must be mainly at the upper end of the market. Almost all the clothing I buy comes from countries in south east Asia.

My work suits were made with cloth woven in Leeds and exported to Malta for tailoring.

 

[Bald Rick]

My work suits were made with cloth woven in Leeds and exported to Malta for tailoring.

Where did the wool come from?

 

[alex397]

I reckon food and drink would be fairly easy, especially as some of it can even be grown in a garden.
But most other things, as others have mentioned, would be difficult and expensive, and in some cases impossible (such as mobile phones)

 

[Peter Sarf]

I reckon food and drink would be fairly easy, especially as some of it can even be grown in a garden.
But most other things, as others have mentioned, would be difficult and expensive, and in some cases impossible (such as mobile phones)

It would be seasonal. Vegetables get a bit thin on the ground in winter. I grow my own (some) vegetables - its the last of the runner beans right now. If I grew potatoes again I would have them over the winter. How did we do it over 100 years ago ?.

 

[JamesT]

It would be seasonal. Vegetables get a bit thin on the ground in winter. I grow my own (some) vegetables - its the last of the runner beans right now. If I grew potatoes again I would have them over the winter. How did we do it over 100 years ago ?.

You need to go a bit further back. Apparently the last time the UK was self-sufficient in food was the early 1800s.
But our diet was poor, bread and dripping being a staple for the average person.
In both world wars the Germans used submarines to effectively try and starve out the UK by sinking supply ships.
When this came up around the time of Brexit, it was suggested you would have to grow to enjoy turnips.

 

[Sun Chariot]

You need to go a bit further back. Apparently the last time the UK was self-sufficient in food was the early 1800s.
But our diet was poor, bread and dripping being a staple for the average person.

And the land we used to grow our root veg in and graze our animals on, is now decimated with retail parks and sprawling housing

 

[JamesT]

And the land we used to grow our root veg in and graze our animals on, is now decimated with retail parks and sprawling housing

Hardly. The percentage of UK land that has been built on is 6%.

 

[Howardh]

It would be seasonal. Vegetables get a bit thin on the ground in winter. I grow my own (some) vegetables - its the last of the runner beans right now. If I grew potatoes again I would have them over the winter. How did we do it over 100 years ago ?.

Crofting. They were very self-sufficient back in the day, cutting and drying peat for fuel, slaughtering animals for food and oil, making their own liqour etc; not saying it's a nice way of life, but they did it on remote islands. However the complication comes as and when illness strikes and imported medicines/equipment are required, dentist's drill etc. So to go back to that way of life, and avoiding any imports, rules out medical treatment for starters. And the phone needed to summon aid too, I suppose!

 

[randyrippley]

There was an American family who tried to buy nothing manufactured in China. For children's shoes they had to purchase very expensive Italian hand made shoes.

Plenty of contract shoe manufacturers in Vietnam. They didn't look too hard

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Nov 2023 ==

It would be seasonal. Vegetables get a bit thin on the ground in winter. I grow my own (some) vegetables - its the last of the runner beans right now. If I grew potatoes again I would have them over the winter. How did we do it over 100 years ago ?.

Potatoes can be overwintered if kept free of frost.
Some brassicas can be cut and harvested over winter - notably brussels sprouts, some forms of kale & broccoli. And of course root crops like turnip, swedes, mangels will keep overwinter. Onions/shallots can be kept in strings. Even some varieties of apples will keep overwinter if kept dry.
Then you have preserves: pickles, chutneys, jams.

 

[wilbers]

Crofting. They were very self-sufficient back in the day, cutting and drying peat for fuel, slaughtering animals for food and oil, making their own liqour etc; not saying it's a nice way of life, but they did it on remote islands. However the complication comes as and when illness strikes and imported medicines/equipment are required, dentist's drill etc. So to go back to that way of life, and avoiding any imports, rules out medical treatment for starters. And the phone needed to summon aid too, I suppose!

Think its possible to get around the phone issue by not having a mobile, but a landline instead and using an older (decades old) phone that was made in the UK.

 

[randyrippley]

Hardly. The percentage of UK land that has been built on is 6%.

But that's 6% of the total land mass, not all of which is useable. It would be interesting to know what the percentage of arable land which has been built on is.

 

[ac6000cw]

But that's 6% of the total land mass, not all of which is useable. It would be interesting to know what the percentage of arable land which has been built on is.

Not answering the question directly, but these are recent UK land usage statistics:

From https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/land-use-in-england-2022/land-use-statistics-england-2022

As at April 2022:

• 8.7% of land in England is of developed use, with 91.1% of non-developed use and the remaining 0.2% being vacant.
• The top 3 land use groups were ‘Agriculture’ (63.1%), ‘Forestry, open land and water’ (20.1%), and ‘Residential gardens’ (4.9%).
• 6.8% of land within the Green Belt is of developed use.
• 6.1% of land within Flood Zone 3 is of developed use (not accounting for flood defences).
• 5.0% of land within areas at high to medium risk of flooding from rivers and the sea is of developed use (after accounting for flood defences).

For agricultural use, from https://www.gov.uk/government/stati...ricultural-land-use-in-england-at-1-june-2023

• The utilised agricultural area (UAA) is 8.8 million hectares in 2023 and accounts for 68% of the total area of England.

• The total croppable area accounts for just over half (55%) of UAA and saw little change between 2022 and 2023, remaining stable at just under 4.9 million hectares.

• Permanent grassland accounts for an additional 40% of UAA and has decreased by 2.9% to 3.5 million hectares in 2023.

 

[TheSmiths82]

When it comes to technology is is almost impossible, there are very few chip fabrications in the world and the costs are huge. The UK isn't a large enough market to support itself and wouldn't be able to export a lot of goods economically. Ironically my shoes are made in the UK and not actually that expensive. I paid £90 for them and they are made in Northampton. I am not sure where the leather is sourced from though, they simply just say from "European tanneries". I don't go out of my war to buy British goods, but I do like good quality products.

We can however certainly become less reliant on imported products and it isn't actually that hard to do. I sourced my burglar alarm from a Manufacturer based in Lancashire although most the components will be made in China, my vacuum cleaner is a Henry but with an Italian motor. You can also buy washing machines that are made in the UK, but I won't touch them as their marketing is very cynical.

I think regardless of the obvious food issues, if you only bought products made in and sourced in the UK then it would be more less impossible to be apart of modern society.

 

[Sun Chariot]

But that's 6% of the total land mass, not all of which is useable. It would be interesting to know what the percentage of arable land which has been built on is.

You beat me to it. That is the stat I want to see.
Every former area of farmland in my locality, is now blighted with thousands - and I mean thousands - of houses and flats.

 

[JamesT]

You beat me to it. That is the stat I want to see.
Every former area of farmland in my locality, is now blighted with thousands - and I mean thousands - of houses and flats.

But in terms of the original question asked, it's probably irrelevant.
I assume arable==croppable. @ac6000cw 's stats have that as 55% of 68%, so 37% of total land. The entirety of developed land use is 8.7%, so assuming it was all usable as croppable land, you could increase that by less than a quarter.
To be self-sufficient we'd need to roughly double food production so knocking down houses isn't going to cut it. Also, where do you expect people to live?

 

[Sun Chariot]

Also, where do you expect people to live?

Exactly. Our population is far higher than when the UK people ate solely from the UK land & sea - and there's no sign of population controls - or mass movement of population - being palatable by any UK gov't

 

[najaB]

Exactly. Our population is far higher than when the UK people ate solely from the UK land & sea

That was likely last true in the Neolithic period.

 

[Sun Chariot]

That was likely last true in the Neolithic period.

Trade between countries, as you rightly infer, has been happening for millennia - albeit perishable items I think only started being imported en masse (for those in the UK's higher echelons) once reliable storage methods came into existence.
My previous post probably stretches the OP's intended responses to their question in this thread's title