Food Security

If I had been able to return to my speech, my next sentence would have dealt with that issue, and I will return to the second point raised by my right hon. Friend the Member for Skipton and Ripon. The Government have the responsibility to ensure that the market works fairly. As the hon. Member for St. Ives (Andrew George) has just pointed out, our supermarkets are all-powerful. They sell the vast majority of our food, and they will continue to do so. Those who think that if they shut their eyes the supermarkets will go away are fooling themselves. However, I believe that the balance of power is wrong. We are still awaiting the Government's response to the Competition Commission's proposals, which the commission said were in the interests of both farmers and consumers. Perhaps we are seeing even more dithering from the Government. As for the hon. Gentleman's idea about an ombudsman, self-regulation is closely involved in my party's approach to these matters. We are waiting to see whether the Government endorse the idea, and whether they are prepared to say that if the industry cannot set up its own regulatory system, they will set one up instead. In the meantime, we are not making much progress.