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Supermarket Regulator

My hon. Friend is right. I find it extraordinary that the supermarkets have not signed up to the buyer’s charter, because it would be sensible and fair. My hon. Friend is not alone, because the Forum of Private Business, which represents 25,000 independent retailers in the UK, claims that 20,000 independent stores have disappeared from the UK high street since 1997—a rate of 50 a week. The chief executive of the FPB, Nick Goulding, has said:"““The supermarkets’—and in particular Tesco’s—dominance of retail trade is a catastrophe for the high street right here, right now in virtually every town in Britain””." We have to ask whether we want to see the UK retail landscape completely redrawn and the high streets dominated by supermarket Metro convenience stores. No more butcher, baker and candlestick maker, just Metros, Metros and more Metros. The character and integrity of our town and city centres are being disfigured for ever.