SIAN FLYNN, the Conservative prospective MP for North Cornwall, has welcomed news that a future Conservative government will create a supermarket Ombudsman to curb abuses of power by the major food retailers. 

Shadow Environment Secretary Nick Herbert last week called for a “new age of agriculture” which supports British farmers, when speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference.

As well as attacking the Government’s failure to establish the ombudsman, Nick Herbert also warned some aspects of the way supermarkets threat their suppliers could harm both consumers and producers alike.

In response, Sian Flynn said: “This issue has been high on the agenda at all of the many meetings I’ve had with farmers in North Cornwall. 

“Nick Herbert had already signalled in a strong speech at the Royal Cornwall Show last June his major concerns about the behaviour of some supermarkets with their suppliers, and this confirmation that he will take action in Government is most welcome.”

At the Oxford Farming Conference last week, Nick Herbert said; “The Government’s belated recognition that food security matters will have little credibility after more than a decade in which they have devalued British agriculture and allowed domestic production to decline.

“Ministers cannot will the end of higher food production without ensuring the means.  It’s not enough to talk loosely about a fair market or the need for better labelling. We need action, with a supermarket Ombudsman and legislation to enforce honest labelling if the retailers won’t act.

“It’s meaningless to talk about a competitive agricultural industry while increasing the regulatory burden on farmers and failing to take the necessary action to deal with Bovine TB.

“For too long, farming has been treated by government at best as though it doesn’t matter and at worst as an expensive problem. The short-sighted response to the decades of food surplus was to believe that domestic production was no longer important.

“But today we face the extraordinary new challenge of feeding a rapidly rising global population against a background of profound environmental change, and now even those who have been careless about farming can see that food production matters again.”

ENDS

For more information, please telephone Sian Flynn on 07973 189480

The photograph shows Sian Flynn with Shadow Agriculture minister Jim Paice, second left, discussing farming issues at Hallworthy Market

11th January 2010