Brexit means Brexit appears to be the new maxim of choice in Brussels as Eurocrats warn Labour ministers they could soon be turfed out of the ‘Made in Europe’ club. Despite this, Whitehall officials keen no doubt to keep the badge, have been reported this week to be planning to scuttle over the Channel, cap in hand, and try and strike a deal to see British firms automatically able to declare their goods are made in the continent.

Yet one feels they are rather missing the point. All the chatter about the need to “reset” relations with the European Union appears to be borne of the misguided idea that the UK cannot possibly do anything on its own merits. Perhaps I am alone in doing so, but when I head to the shops it is not the ‘Made in Europe’ badge I seek – but rather the ‘Made In Britain’ one.

My gut feeling suggests a great many Express readers will not be whiling away their trips to the local supermarket looking eagerly for European produce – and why should we? Rather than pandering to European negotiating tactics, reportedly championed by the French, and seeking to genuflect earnestly in hopes for the generous offering of being able to claim continental heritage for our produce, British Ministers should be championing our own brand.

Surely it would be a far richer use of ministerial time, though I doubt Peter Kyle, the trade minister, is exactly spoilt for choice for meeting offers, to promote the best of britain badge and empower brands to boast loudly of their British credentials? And there is rather a lot to champion.

British farming produces some of the finest beef, lamb and dairy in the world – Aberdeen Angus cattle grazed on Scottish hillsides, salt marsh lamb from the Welsh and Cumbrian coasts, Stilton and Cheddar with centuries of craft behind them. Scotch whisky remains the envy of every distillery on the planet.

And our fishing fleets still land some of the best seafood in Europe, despite this government’s best efforts to flog off their waters to Starmers pals in France. British wool, British leather, British ceramics – the list of things we make superbly and undervalue persistently is a long and rather shaming one.

There is a reason the “Buy British” instinct resonates with the public in a way that no Brussels label ever will. Britons recognise that behind every British-made product stands a farmer, a crafter or a community doing real work in places that matter and are worth defending. The referendum result of 2016 was not, whatever Sir Keir as his cabinet may think, an act of national self-harm to be apologised for.

It was a decision – taken by a majority of the British people – that this country would govern itself, trade on its own terms, and stand on its own merits. Part of what Brexit was supposed to mean was precisely this: that we would not go to Brussels on bended knee, hoping for their permission to call ourselves capable.

The United Kingdom voted to leave, not to spend the following decade seeking re-admittance through the back door, one apology at a time. Made in Britain is not a consolation prize for countries excluded from the continental club. It is a mark of quality, of provenance, and of pride. It is time this Government remembered that – or made way for one that does.