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Farron calls on Government to end supermarket stranglehold
November 19, 2008 12:00 PM
The Government should bring an end to the supermarket greed undermining British farmers by closing tax loopholes and introducing a comprehensive supermarket regulator according to Shadow Secretary of State for DEFRA Tim Farron MP.
Following the news that the supermarket giant Sainsbury have recorded a 24% surge in annual profit to nearly half a billion pounds, Mr Farron has called on the Government to close a tax loophole allowing supermarkets to save millions on Stamp Duty related taxes.
Mr Farron has also taken the opportunity to reiterate his call for a supermarket regulator to stop food prices being controlled by a monopoly of powerful supermarkets.
Commenting Mr Farron said:
"It's outrageous that at a time when local farmers are facing rising input costs and falling profits that giant supermarkets are able to save millions by avoiding Stamp Duty related taxes. It may be legal; but it is certainly not moral.
"Britain's food market is dominated by a "trolleygarchy" that has seen profits monopolised by overreaching supermarkets. Last year Sainsbury made a £380million profit which simply wasn't passed onto farmers
"There needs to be stricter rules governing the relationship between supermarkets, suppliers, and pricing as the current proposals included in the Competition Commission don't do nearly enough to prevent supermarkets from squeezing local farmers.
"The Government must introduce a genuinely independent regulator to ensure that the valuable supply chain from local farms to supermarkets is not broken by forcing farmers to leave the industry."
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