HEROIC BRITISH SUPERMARKET RESISTS FOOD FAD DICTATORSHIP

And gets subjected to an "inquiry" as punishment

Tesco was under assault on two fronts last night for using its muscle as Britain’s biggest supermarket to buy and hoard vast amounts of land and for boycotting a scheme to encourage healthy eating. The retail giant was attacked by MPs and the Food Standards Agency after defiantly rejecting the regulator’s call yesterday to introduce “traffic light” health warnings on products. Tesco was also put on notice that it will be at the centre of an investigation by the Competition Commission into the impact of supermarket dominance on local shops and suppliers.

The Office of Fair Trading, reversing a decision made last year, said that it was likely to refer supermarkets for an inquiry that would cover claims that Tesco and the rest of the Big Four supermarkets were driving cornershops out of business. Tesco made profits of almost 2 billion pounds last year on a turnover of 34 billion pounds.

The supermarket said that it had nothing to fear from the commission, claiming that its relentless expansion was good for consumer choice. It said that it had already been through a series of investigations, including one by the commission in 2000, adding that the new inquiry was a “diversion of effort and resources”. The retailer was accused of “arrogance” for its dismissal of the competition inquiry and its boycott of a “traffic light” scheme for sugar, salt and fat accepted by other supermarkets including Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Asda.

The FSA wants retailers to put the alerts on food packs to allow consumers to make informed and healthy choices. It said yesterday that ready meals, breakfast cereals, pizzas, sandwiches, burgers, sausages, pies, chicken nuggets, fish fingers, and other chicken and fish products should be the first foods with the new labels and may be on sale before the summer. Foods to be included later are biscuits, cakes, crisps, chocolate and sweets.

The FSA was scathing about the industry’s attempts to derail the “traffic light” labels. A paper circulated to its board members said: “Information as adopted by Tesco and several major manufacturers is not helpful and may be misleading.” Big-brand manufacturers Danone, Kellogg’s Kraft, Nestlé, Pepsico and Unilever are determined to join Tesco in rejecting the voluntary scheme. They have adopted their own format for labels which includes a table showing the calories, fat, salt, saturated fat and sugar in a product. They refuse to use red symbols because they believe that consumers will be turned off by the colour.

Sue Davies, principal policy adviser at Which?, the consumer organisation, also supported “traffic light” labels and described the industry alternative as “a fudge”. She said: “Can you really tell me what shopper is going to go round the supermarket making complicated calculations about the amounts of fat or salt are in each product and how that fits into their daily diet?” Steve Webb, the Lib Dem health spokesman, said: “A company the size of Tesco is in many ways as powerful as the Government. They have huge influence on our culture and what we eat. It is irresponsible for such a company to go it alone when it comes to public health. “Its attitude to competition and food labelling is symptomatic of an arrogance on the part of big supermarkets.”

The Federation of Small Businesses welcomed the OFT’s decision to refer the 95 billion pound grocery market to the Competition Commission after finding that a restrictive planning system and land banks meant that consumers were “harmed”. Carol Undy, its chairwoman, said: “This inquiry is not a moment too soon. When supermarkets, convenience stores and branded petrol stations are considered together, there is little doubt that there is a dominant position being taken by the Big Four supermarkets.”

Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Tesco group corporate and legal affairs director, said the company had nothing to fear. “The development of the UK grocery market has been good news for consumers precisely because of high levels of competition

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THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT CELEBRATES WOMENS DAY

With typical British eccentricity. The Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP is Britain's Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport



Never let it be said that Tessa let the sisters down. Ms Jowell had every reason not to go to yesterday’s wonderfully mad singsong to mark International Women’s Day. In fact, the rumour was that she had been advised not to attend because she might look stupid. But she must have realised that looking stupid was, actually, the least of her worries this week. Besides, if the suffragettes could go to jail, she could go to a singsong.

It must be said that, if God is a woman, she let the side down badly yesterday for the weather was appalling. It began to rain heavily as the few dozen female MPs gathered in front of Emmeline Pankhurst’s statue in the park next to Parliament. Soon they began to drip like wonky taps. Women used to fight for the vote, now they were fighting for an umbrella.

Tessa arrived just in time, already damp around the edges. At first I thought she had a bodyguard but then realised her snarling protector was Chief Whip Hilary Armstrong. She should retrain as a bouncer immediately.

The ceremony was halfway between a tree-planting and a Brownies singsong. But the whole thing had been organised, as one would expect, with the military precision of a church flower rota. One woman with a handsome woven basket handed out elegant red rose boutonnières. Another distributed full colour “Order of Ceremony” programmes. A few men, who were immediately given “honorary sister” status, mingled in their midst. One cradled a guitar.

Labour MP Barbara Follett jumped up, waving her bedraggled lyric sheet. The song was called The Women Are Marching On and was to be sung to the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. The original had been written by a woman and now Ms Follett had a confession to make. “This has been written by my sister, Ken Follett!” she cried. “And they don’t even quite scan!” The assembled parliamentary sisterhood giggled. I am not being sexist: they did giggle, and why not? They were about to serenade a statue with a feminist marching song that had been written by a man (and a trashy novelist man at that). Plus the conditions WERE laughable. We could not have been wetter if the event had been held in a swimming pool.

Babs started to sing and Tessa et al joined in. “My eyes have seen the women in the Commons and the Lords,” they warbled, the rather rudimentary chord strumming of the guitar providing vital background guidance. “They have trampled out the prejudice that was so long ignored! They have lit the torch of liberty and justice is restored! Their truth is marching on!” The second verse loomed. Remarkably, it was even worse. “Suffragettes said all were equal in a true democracy,” they sang, some actually in tune. “In the teeth of opposition they campaigned for you and me! As they died for their convictions, let us live for equity! Their truth is marching on!”

When it was over (the word hallelujah had never seemed more apt) someone shouted “ONE MORE TIME” and, incredibly, they obeyed. When Tessa left she was trailed by TV crews shouting questions at her. They were all but head-butted by the Chief Whip. As it ended, right on cue, the rain began to ease

From The Times