Food Industry Competitiveness

I know that at least one of my Back-Bench colleagues takes that view. My hon. Friend is an aficionado of Adam Smith and he will recall that Adam Smith actually says that a true free market is one in which there are an equal number of buyers and suppliers, which, of course, is patently not the case in the grocery market. The ombudsman is about addressing a market failure, not about interfering in a free market. However, we welcome the Government's albeit belated decision to respond.