WILLIAMS CALLS OUT TORIES ON SUPERMARKET REGULATOR CONFUSION

2.16.03pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 20th Oct 2009

Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Wales Roger Williams MP has today called for the Conservative Party to come clean on whether they support the need for an independent Supermarket Ombudsman.

At a Fringe event at the their Party Conference in Manchester yesterday, Tory Shadow DEFRA Secretary Nick Herbert said it was 'debatable' whether an Ombudsman was needed to prevent supermarkets from bullying their suppliers.

This is at odds with Conservative claims earlier this year which suggested that they had 'long supported' the idea of a Supermarket Ombudsman.

Roger Williams MP, who is also the LibDem Rural Affairs Spokesman, said today that the debacle yet again highlighted the confusion in the Conservative party over where they stand on issues affecting the agricultural and rural community.

The LibDems have consistently called for stronger regulations of supermarkets and have proposed an independent Food Market Regulator to monitor and penalise supermarkets that treat producers unfairly.

Commenting, Roger Williams said:

"This issue is of serious concern to farmers who are in constant danger of being bullied by supermarket giants to reduce their prices to a point where farms can no longer survive, and to consumers who deserve to get a fair deal from supermarkets.

"Yet while the Conservatives have talked tough in the past on the need for an ombudsman, their policy is now utterly confused.

"The Tories need to state conclusively whether they support the independent body to help bring supermarkets to task or whether their statements earlier this year were just another example of them hopping on a media bandwagon without a policy to back it up."