Speeches by Zeichner.

“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…”

“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 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.”

“I think you will find there have been a lot of debates in this place.”

“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…”

“The assessment the Treasury did is detailed in a letter that the Chancellor published to the Treasure Select Committee. I have not seen any evidence to suggest that those figures have changed since then.”

“I understand the point you are making. What I would just gently say is there is a fairly clear legal system around labelling, and labelling should not be inaccurate. Where it is inaccurate, there is a legal issue. But we are, as you rightly say, looking very closely at the whole issue of labelling and it should always …”

“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 have not had any communication so far.”

“As I say, Chair, I believe we have robust supply chains, and I encourage people to have a reasoned dialogue, very much as we have had this morning, about the way forward for the future. The overwhelming message should be that this is a really important sector all the way through the food chain. It does a magnificent jo…”

“Thank you for inviting us this morning. I am Daniel Zeichner. I am the Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs.”

“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…”

“It does not tell the whole story, because we are working, as I say, within the legislative framework that was agreed by Parliament under the Fisheries Act. Our task is to make those judgments.”

“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.”

“May I look to you for that one, Mike?”

“That is a very good question, which I will go away and see if we can find the answer to. I suspect, as in so many other things, that there is always more that we can do, but of course we are dependent to some extent on international advice.”

“What we are doing is putting a huge amount of energy into introducing the fair dealing regulations, which we have the capability of doing, and it is really important that we concentrate our energy on that. That seems to me a very productive way forward on what we have been asked to do. There is no complacency here; I a…”

“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…”