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Agricultural Policy

That is still a cheap political remark. In 2000, the Labour Government asked the OFT to look into supermarkets and towards a code, which it agreed to do. The Competition Commission then set up the code because of campaigners such as myself, suppliers, and others. A Library research paper on the Grocery Market Ombudsman Bill found that: ““Dissatisfaction continued among suppliers, although no complaints were made to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) that the code of practice had been infringed.”” In 2008—not 2000 or 2001—the Competition Commission published another report. The commission cannot create a new body itself, but in August 2009, it recommended that the Government establish an ombudsman. I make the point because after that recess, I entered the ballot for a private Members’ Bills and was successful in introducing a Bill to take forward the Competition Commission’s recommendation made only a few months before that. The important political point is that I had all-party support. All parties represented here today said that it was a priority—a priority—to bring in an ombudsman with teeth. A weak measure in draft form has been kicked into the long grass. It bears no resemblance to what cross-party activity or the Grocery Market Action Group, of which I am a member, wanted. A ““priority””, for any party coming into government, should mean in the first term. They did not even introduce a draft Bill, because the matter went out to further consultation until 2010. Here we are, in 2012, and we have not seen a final Bill. The one that has been in draft has been hugely criticised by the Select Committee on Business, Innovation and Skills for having no teeth. We want farmers, producers and customers to have confidence that the ombudsman will have teeth to do the job, who should be proactive in looking at the industry and making recommendations. The ombudsman should be able to impose mandatory fines on companies. Naming and shaming can happen now. Any one of us can stand up and name and shame a supermarket, but when we hit its pocket, it feels worse. The measure is self-financing and should be introduced, as a matter of priority, in the Queen’s Speech. I urge the Government to use their influence, because already years have gone by in which the farming community have suffered. It is calling for the measure, which has cross-party support, so we should move ahead with it. I shall leave it at that, because other people want to speak.