Tim Farron, for a powerful independent Food Market Regulator to monitor and penalise supermarkets that treat producers unfairly.
Tim Farron had reacted to the watered-down Conservative proposals to borrow the Labour government’s ‘supermarket ombudsman’ idea, describing it as ‘a fig leaf that would provide cover for supermarkets, allowing them to continue to exploit British farmers’.
Heather re-iterated Tim Farron’s views when she said: “This is an issue of real concern to farmers who are in constant danger of being bullied by supermarket giants to reduce their prices to a point where farms can no longer survive. For years both the Conservatives and the Labour Government have stood by whilst thousands of farmers have been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy by the powerful interests of a monopoly of large supermarkets. Farmers will be disappointed that the Conservatives proposals are a mere fig leaf solution that will leave farmers at the mercy of the supermarkets.”
Heather continued “Now is the time for real action. Farmers will only get a fair deal if a new regulator is given the teeth to enforce a strict, legally binding code governing the relationship between supermarkets, suppliers, and pricing. We need fair trade for British farmers, not a fig leaf to protect supermarkets”