Speeches by Tufnell.

“Is there no role for you in these circumstances?”

“Jo, you set out all the asks that you have made of DEFRA. You said you speak to DEFRA twice a week. In the context of the domestic production of fertiliser, or lack thereof, being pretty much wholly dependent on the cost of energy and particularly the cost of gas in comparison with our friends and partners in the Unite…”

“Mr White, you have mentioned your survey a couple of times, both to Mr Dewhirst and to the Chair. Your annual survey was released last week, is that right?”

“You warned Amazon, but then why did it take you 12 months from that warning to launch the investigation?”

“In terms of looking into what the practice actually is in its business model and the mechanisms by which Amazon is acting in the marketplace to cause the suppliers concern, it seems that the collaboration approach that you have taken is perhaps not forceful enough in getting change, in holding Amazon to account and all…”

“That sounds a little like an apologist or a PR machine for the supermarkets; rather than saying, “This is unacceptable, this is what you need to do for compliance,” it is, “We appreciate that you have some issues with your back office and with your systems and this is the reason; we understand that and that is okay.” I…”

“There were quite a lot of small regressions. If we look at invoice discrepancies, that was an increase of 3% from the previous year, and with delays in payments you again have an increase of 3%. Delisting without reasonable notice was unchanged, but you still have an increase in costs with inaccurate forecasting. You h…”

“When you look at the surveys and you see those discrepancies, why do you think the new entrants have a bigger issue in respect of compliance versus those that are a bit more long-standing?”

“Do you think you have enough teeth? You have told the Chair you have nine staff and—what was it—£3.5 million?”

“Mr White, you have mentioned your survey a couple of times, both to Mr Dewhirst and to the Chair. Your annual survey was released last week, is that right?”

“Amazon for example, has consistently performed poorly in your surveys and shown little improvement. Have you launched an investigation?”

“It may be my own ignorance and lack of understanding of the milk market but, picking up on what Sarah mentioned, I was wondering why there is such a discrepancy between the price the farmers are paid for their milk and the milk on the supermarket shelves?”

“Is there no role for you in these circumstances?”

“Jo, you set out all the asks that you have made of DEFRA. You said you speak to DEFRA twice a week. In the context of the domestic production of fertiliser, or lack thereof, being pretty much wholly dependent on the cost of energy and particularly the cost of gas in comparison with our friends and partners in the Unite…”

“The Chair touched on the High Court issue in respect of Aldi. In the High Court case, Aldi spent significant time and money to stop you intervening. What do you think that says about the supermarkets’ view of you as the adjudicator?”

“Why do you think Amazon is performing so poorly in respect of your surveys?”

“I will start with the maintenance and monitoring. Mr Hinton, you gave an answer to my colleague just now about the need for more advanced problem solving, but what is striking when you look at the DWI report is about the basics. It sets out that routine maintenance was just not being undertaken. Seven of 13 scheduled s…”

“Hold on a second, because you say that, but in the report you talk about gaps in operation. This is not just a gap, is it? You are not doing over half of what you are meant to be doing.”

“But it is not, in your report.”

“Is there a power in this country that you feel you have to adhere to? You dispute the judges; you do not take seriously what the Prime Minister says; you do not take seriously what the Secretary of State says. You seem to hold Parliament— What power in this country do you feel that you, as a company, can adhere to?”