Would you pay more to buy British?

ellieellieellie

I think it really depends on how much more. I probably would be willing to spend an extra couple of pounds on something that's worth £100 to £200, but I wouldn't spend an extra 20p on something worth £1 to £2 just because it was produced in the UK. Since I, like most people, buy many more items in the £1 to £2 bracket than the £100 to £200 bracket, I voted no.

Plus, it has to be said, the quality of some items, most notably electronics, is better when they're produced in certain other countries. For some other products, buying British isn't even an option.

Maat

I had to vote no to all on the basis that I can't afford any of those things, including groceries. I'm down to crisp sandwiches !!!!!!. In principle I'll pay more for fairtrade and organic, but in practice I just don't buy that much and I can't afford to be touchy about where it's from.

XRAT

Gavin83 wrote: »

I don't really understand the logic behind paying more just because it was produced in the UK.

The idea is that by spending a few pence more buying British we employ someone here.., who then has money to spend on other British products..., keeping other Brits employed further along the food-chain.
The alternative being, buy from abroad and that first Brit goes on the dole (they in theory then don't have as much to spend) putting a second Brit on the dole etc.
Eventually we lose our skills base and end up paying more in tax to pay benefits than the initial few pence extra that a British purchase would have cost in the first place!

(Sorry if I offended anyone using 'British,' perhaps should I refer to it as the 'B' word thesedays?;))

stevemcol

teddyco wrote: »

All this 'save the planet', 'low carbon footprint', Fairtrade, Ethically produced, is a load of horse pellets.

Can you give us some examples and evidence or is it just a gut feel?

ipod_killed_the_musicshop

A better question would be, "would you be willing to pay more if this, that and this were different"?

patricia_elizabeth

I will when British firms employ British people first instead of going for cheap foreign labour that don't know their rights ,despite people saying that British youth don't want to work I know most do,and if one continually gives a dog a bad name they will eventually live up to it,

So don't just produce British goods support British people.

racken

I voted yes to all as we need jobs to be able to buy anything.
I wanted to vote no because many GB items in the past have exploited loyalty and been of poor quality.
We also already pay a premium on many items in UK that are cheaper abroad but unobtainable to us i.e. cars and most things in US dollars that end up being the same in pounds, usually with the "shipping" claim to justify profiteering.

So I agee with the first few comments which argue the case for both sides and also agree with the "I won't unless its better quality". Triumph motorcycles and Toyota have proven it is not impossible to make quality affordable in the UK.

I only read the first few.

aldredd

racken wrote: »

We also already pay a premium on many items in UK that are cheaper abroad but unobtainable to us i.e. cars and most things in US dollars that end up being the same in pounds, usually with the "shipping" claim to justify profiteering.

It's not really as simple as that though.
Firstly, whilst yes, many things are cheaper overseas than UK - the same is also true the over way around - I've spent a fair bit of time living overseas - both in Europe and Asia - and believe me, I would love to pay UK prices sometimes.

One of the main reasons our prices are higher than comparable countries, such as USA - are actually largely due to a) Higher wages (therefore higher margin needs to be charged), but mostly b) Because of our stronger consumer protection laws - a much higher number of products will be returned in the UK vs USA due to laws which generally favour the consumer, meaning prices have to be higher to cover these additional 'costs'.

Edwardia

Outside of the Olympics and football World and European cups, I don't think Brits are particularly patriotic compared to say Americans.

I wouldn't pay more because something is British, I do pay more if it's organic or FairTrade.