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WILLIAMS SLAMS 'JOHNNY-COME-LATELY' TORY SUPERMARKET OMBUDSMAN PLAN

January 8, 2010 12:46 PM

Roger Williams, MP for the most rural constituency in England and Wales and the Liberal Democrats Food & Farming Spokesman in Parliament, has dismissed the Conservative Party's announcement today that it will create a supermarket ombudsman as "too weak and too late".

Commenting on the news, Mr. Williams said:

" It's all very well the Tories coming up with this proposal now, just a few months before a General Election, to try to curry favour with farmers. But they failed to support the Liberal Democrats in Parliament when we called for the creation of a supermarket regulator two years ago. We supported recommendations made by the Competition Commission at that time, after a consultation process in which I encouraged about 80 farmers from Brecon & Radnorshire to take part. So, while I welcome the Tories' 'johnny-come-lately' conversion to the cause, if they had acted earlier we might have been able to pressurise the Government to put one in place before now."

" In any event," concluded Mr. Williams, " it is not just an ombudsman we need, but a proper regulator with teeth that can enforce fairness in the food market, to ensure consumers and producers are protected from the excess power of the big supermarket companies."

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