Farmers and growers require fair dealing in the grocery supply chain in order to survive and thrive. We welcomed the 2008 Competition Commission Inquiry which found that larger retailers and supermarkets often abused their power by transferring excessive risk and unexpected cost to suppliers.

The Commission created the Grocery Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP) in 2009 and then the Grocery Code Adjudicator (GCA) in 2013, this established the beginnings of a framework on which to build fairer trading relationships in the grocery supply chain.

We welcome some positive trends, including that GSCOP fair trade breaches reduced from 79% to 36% between 2014 and 2023.

I recognise that farmers and overseas exporters, who are not directly covered under the scope of the GSCOP, are subjected to unfair trading practices by large UK corporate buyers as risks and costs are passed along the supply chain where many unfair and abusive behaviours remain masked by a climate of fear or remain unchecked. The creation of two separate regulators, the GCA and the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator (ASCA), risks fragmenting and weakening regulatory effort.

I am pleased to be joining calls on the Government to bring both regulators together under the GCA, strengthen its powers and resource base, and ensure it is empowered to apply the Principle of Fair Dealing, particularly in respect of production, delivery and payment issues.

Alongside this motion I am backing calls to reverse the Family Farm Tax, and for the farming budget to be increased by £1 billion a year.