Britain’s big food retailers remain opposed to manifesto pledges by both the Conservative and Labour Parties to impose a supermarket ombudsman on the food market after the general election.
The Tory manifesto published today said a future Conservative government would introduce an independent ombudsman to “ensure the grocery supply code of practice is applied fairly”.
Labour, in its manifesto published yesterday, said it would create a supermarket ombudsman to protect farmers and food suppliers from “unfair and uncompetitive practices by major retailers”.
Stephen Robertson, director general at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said: “Why would any Government want to intervene in a market that works effectively and delivers great value and choice for customers?
“This is not about farmers, very few deal directly with supermarkets. An ombudsman would hand negotiating power to multi-national food businesses and cost customers millions of pounds in higher prices.
“The current code is regulated by the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) and gives suppliers more protection and a new right to independent arbitration if they’re unhappy,” he said.
The BRC has also come out against Tory plans for a “cracking down on drink- and drug-fuelled violence” by raising taxes on those drinks links to anti-social drinking and banning off-licences and supermarkets from selling alcohol below cost.
Robertson said: “We don’t need new legislation. There is plenty out there already. It should be properly enforced. Irresponsible drinking is not about price, it’s about culture.
“Retailers are actively engaged in changing attitudes through information and education. ‘Below cost selling’ is difficult to define. Moves to prevent it may clash with competition law. The party would first need to properly define ‘below cost’. We would then discuss our response with members.”
The BRC did welcome the Conservative promises not to impose the National Insurance (NI) increase for employers and people earning under £35,000 a year and to allow new companies to pay no NI contributions on the first 10 employees during the first two years of a Tory administration.
New powers, suggested by the Tories, to allow councils to introduce further discounts on business rates were also welcomed by the BRC if “this proposal genuinely leads to lower tax bills overall”.
As a result, the BRC remains opposed to Labour’s pledge to raise NI contributions by 1p. It welcomed the party’s pledge not to extend VAT to food, children’s clothes, books, newspaper and public transport fares, but it was concerned there was no pledge to raise VAT levels above the current 17.5%.
Robertson said the BRC supported the principle of the National Minimum Wage (NMW), but it said it should not increase faster than average earnings. The Labour manifesto said it would increase the NMW “at least in line with average earnings”.
