Westcountry farming leaders have dismissed calls by MPs to impose a partial ban on serving meat in Parliamentary cafeterias as "arrant, populist nonsense".

Three MPs have tabled a motion in the Commons claiming that rising levels of meat consumption is "detrimental" to people's health and undermines efforts to cut carbon emissions.

While unlikely to be debated on the floor of the house, critics argue the statement sends out the wrong signals about beef farming, which is central to the Westcountry economy.

The statement, signed by two Liberal Democrat MPs and one Labour MP, calls on Parliament to join the Meat-Free Monday campaign.

Supported by Sir Paul McCartney, the movement asks households to cut out meat one day a week to help address global warming.

The motion states that, according to United Nations figures, meat production is responsible for 18 per cent of global carbon emissions, chiefly through methane emitted by cows and pigs.

It goes on that the millions of tonnes of beef, pork and poultry eaten each year in the UK is "detrimental to the health of the nation and to the public purse".

It adds: "Current meat consumption levels are unsustainable if the Climate Change Act 2008 is to be successfully implemented to help the UK fight against climate change."

The motion goes on to call for a "shift towards less meat-oriented diets nationally" and "recognises that Meat-Free Mondays would help to promote this".

It concludes: "Parliament should set an example by supporting Meat-Free Mondays in all cafeterias in the Houses of Parliament."

The motion is signed by John Leech (Lib Dem, Manchester Withington), John McDonnell (Lab, Hayes and Harlington) and Mike Hancock (Lib Dem, Portsmouth South).

In 2007, the Labour Government unsuccessfully floated plans to introduce a tax on cow flatulence in the fight for the green vote.

Neil Parish, Conservative MP for Tiverton and Honiton, said that if the motion gained traction he would "chain myself to the railings of the Commons to make sure we have meat on a Monday".

He said: "It is a naive approach that is dangerous for the agriculture, the environment and the countryside.

"The countryside we have in the Westcountry is there because of the grazing animals – if we did not have them the viability of the landscape would be at stake.

"We should be eating meat in a balanced way, but rationing what you eat is absolutely the wrong way to do that."

Ian Johnson, spokesman for the National Farmers' Union in the South West, said: "I'm quite certain this is arrant, populist nonsense.

"It might go down well with the urban newspapers where these MPs come from, but it is not a sensible way to address climate change or indeed healthy living. If you have your five fruit and vegetables a day and your meat, you won't go far wrong. And you need a diet that you enjoy."