Orkney and Shetland MP, Alistair Carmichael, has called for a “single regulator from the farm gate to the supermarket shelves” to protect food producers and consumers from the behaviour of major supermarkets.
He made the call during a debate in parliament on the Groceries Code Adjudicator.
Speaking during the debate, led by Sir John Hayes MP, Carmichael warned of unfairness “hardwired” into the system and called for reform.
In March, Carmichael introduced the Food Supply Chain Fairness Bill, aimed at establishing a range of provisions to get fairer prices for farmers and food producers across the UK.
It included strengthening the Groceries Code Adjudicator in terms of remit and resources, supporting greater public procurement of locally produced food, and enhanced origin labelling requirements.
The Bill was developed in discussion with farming and rural organisations including the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), the Country Land and Business Association (CLBA), the Tenant Farmers’ Association, the Countryside Alliance and Scottish Land and Estates.
Supermarket decisions
Carmichael said: “[Sir John Hayes] is right about the way grocery supermarkets go about their business, but much of the problem is the way they choose to go about it.
“I recently heard from a livestock farmer who bought in potatoes to feed stock. He expected to find them green, bruised or damaged, but when they arrived they were perfect; they just were not conformed to the particular specification that the supermarket demanded.
“That demand does not come from consumers, but directly from supermarkets. If he looks around Europe and elsewhere, the right hon. gentleman will find that supermarkets there behave very differently.”
Responding, Sir John Hayes MP said: “The right hon. gentleman is right. That is why, when he and I were in government together, we introduced the Groceries Code Adjudicator. He is also right to focus on the producers.
“I began my speech by speaking about how both producers and consumers need a multiplicity of places to buy and sell.
“In the model that I set out, the one that prevailed for aeons, people who made and grew food, primary and secondary producers, were able to sell to a variety of places.”
Speaking later in the debate, Carmichael added: “What we need is a single regulator from the farm gate to the supermarket shelves.
“At the moment, too many unfairnesses are hardwired into the system; there are too many players in the market and it is just too easy for outcomes to fall between the gaps.
Those who suffer are always the consumers, who are left with higher food prices, or the primary producers. At the moment, it is principally the primary producers who are losing out.”
Carmichael has claimed that supermarkets are entering into a price war as they try to push down food price inflation.
