UEA Union Council votes to ban the sale of beef on campus

UEA's elected Union Council has voted to ban the sale of beef and beef products on campus in a bid to fight the climate change crisis.

The ban was passed by just one per cent, with 47 per cent voting in favour, 46 per cent against and seven per cent abstaining.

The ban has received mixed reviews. Mark Robertson, Norfolk-based RSPCA Assured farms assessor, has described the decision as "really disappointing" in a region "surrounded by agriculture".

He has questioned why the Council didn't "look at higher welfare and local meat" rather than voting for a "blanket ban".

Students have also condemned the decision. One anonymous poster on the university confessions site said: "Why not campaign across campus to educate people of how much meat production pollutes our environment and then let them make their own free choice? It is wrong to limit people's freedom."

Another anonymous student on the page was more tolerant of the idea, but still drew attention to how democratic the decision was.

Although the Union Council are elected and describe themselves as the students' "democratic forum", the poster argued: "The people who voted for this were a very small amount of a wider student body. All students should get a chance to vote on issues that impact them. Making UEA environmentally-friendly is an important step to make, but it needs to be done in a fair way with all of campus behind it."

The SU shop's popular quarter pounder cheeseburger will no longer be available

Sarah Gamble, a second year English Literature and Creative Writing student who considers herself a "foodie", likened the vote statistics to Brexit. Sarah told The Norwich Tab: "The ban will just increase demand elsewhere off campus".

Beef products will now have to be purchased off campus

One anonymous student pointed out "ironic" research a team at UEA had done for a Daily Mail article, which showed "eating steak every day could be 'as good for your heart as giving up smoking'".