Groceries Code Adjudicator

I cannot give way, because we have not got time. The idea that everyone agrees on this matter is not correct. The economist, Professor Lyons, who is one of the two Competition Commission panel members working on supplier issues, concluded that the ombudsman would be counter-productive and opposed its being set up. The commission's report stated that he"““believed that the Ombudsman would be counterproductive...He was concerned that the Ombudsman may find a role 'proactively' representing the interests of suppliers, including global manufacturers and large intermediaries, which he considered would reduce the benefits of competition.””" There are a large number of myths about the relationship between supermarkets and suppliers. The idea that all buy one, get one free promotions are insisted on by supermarkets and paid for by suppliers is completely wrong. When I was at Asda, we tried to stop suppliers from offering such deals and have an everyday lower price. Buy one, get one free deals are promoted to supermarkets by suppliers, many of which have huge marketing budgets. They use such deals as a way to market their products and get people to buy them in the future. Most of the big supermarket suppliers, such as Mars and Proctor and Gamble, have marketing budgets that supermarkets could only dream about. That is the reality of the situation. The ombudsman will do nothing to help the consumer or the small supplier. If anything, it will benefit only the bureaucracy that is set up, which will be self-serving, and big, multinational corporations, which can fend for themselves. I believe in the free market. For me, the free market means allowing people to make deals themselves. There may be bad deals, but I hope the Government will not interfere in every commercial discussion between two companies and try to fathom out who has got the best arrangement. That should be left for the free market to decide, because the people who benefit most from supermarkets are those who work in them and the consumers.