Speeches by Zeichner.

“There absolutely is a sense of urgency because that is what we are doing and getting on with. Only in the last few weeks some of the secondary legislation has been laid, and it will go on being laid as we work with the sector. What I would say is that it is very important that we get these things right, because they ar…”

“That goes to the heart of the whole discussion we are having, and it goes right back to the beginning, about how we allocate the resources available. Some comes from the taxpayer, quite a lot comes through the food system. But we need to make sure that we have proper fairness. I actually think that the key to a lot of …”

“First, I pay tribute to the hon. Gentleman, because he did a lot of this work before he came into Parliament, and he and I used to discuss it. It is relatively early days for the ASCA, and we will see what is needed, but at the moment I am confident that he is happy with the resources that he has to do the job. There i…”

“We want to look closely to make sure it provides good value for money. Obviously, decisions that devolved Governments make are their decisions, we do not always take the same decisions.”

“Again, this will come through the review that is being carried out. But the case that has been made in the past against widening it is that its effectiveness has been that it has concentrated on those relatively few relationships directly with the retailers. On the anxiety about raising complaints, I absolutely underst…”

“We will probably come on to the individual sector arrangements that are being made. It is at that level that we can have closer dialogue.”

“I am afraid I am going to give you the same answer that you got from the DBT, which is that it is a matter for the Competition and Markets Authority, and for the reason I explained earlier: we think the Groceries Code Adjudicator is working well.”

“I think it is working effectively, yes.”

“Not necessarily; we have very efficient producers in our country.”

“I am not sure I quite follow the question, but basically it is obviously a market-driven system, so it depends essentially on the relationships within the sector. I am perfectly happy to pay tribute to the Chair and his predecessors for intervening in this a decade ago, introducing the Groceries Code Adjudicator and GS…”

“That is one of the legacy European Union schemes; we are currently looking at what we would do to replace that. We are in conversation with people on that, but it was a legacy scheme that came to an end.”

“To tax and subsidies?”

“I suspect that I am going to answer in a similar way on a number of these questions. Some of these issues fall far more within the Department for Business and Trade remit, and that is who the GCA actually is accountable to. But my understanding is the Competition and Markets Authority did do an investigation into super…”

“It absolutely does, but it shows the complexity of the decisions that are being made. As a Minister, I can only follow the scientific advice we are being given.”

“There is unhappiness, clearly, within the agricultural sector about the way they are sometimes treated. But I would not want to characterise the food system as being anything other than actually, overall, successful. We do have a successful food system in this country. I am trying to choose my words carefully here beca…”

“Absolutely I understand why it matters, and it goes to the heart of my and the Secretary of State’s vision for the future: that farmers’ farms are successful businesses. But I also would not want to unfairly criticise other parts of the food chain, whether it be the food manufacturers or the retailers that, in my view,…”

“Well, two things. As I say, it is actually directly a DBT responsibility, but my understanding is that there is a current review under way, the fourth statutory review, which began on 20 March 2025. I am told that Ministers in the DBT are still finalising the exact arrangements for the review, but it is in line with th…”

“When I say the system is working well, what I mean is, in terms of the way it has been set up and what it has been asked to do.”

“Yes.”

“No, please do.”