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Food Industry Competitiveness

The hon. Gentleman makes a very important point. Processors and producers needed certainty that the payment agreements and contracts that they had entered into would be honoured, allowing them to project what their future investment in their business or farm should be. That was not happening across the piece, and the uncertainty could have led to a number of businesses and farms going under. As he said, that could ultimately have acted to the detriment of the consumer.