Food supply chain resilience and fairness

Status / emerging findings

• GCA has delivered only 3 formal investigations and 15 arbitrations in 13 years despite overseeing 97% of UK grocery sales; static £2 million budget has not kept pace with inflation or expanded remit
• GCA is funded by mandatory levy from the 14 designated supermarkets it regulates—supermarkets have never challenged funding levels, suggesting they may prefer an under-resourced regulator
• Farmers fear retaliation (delisting) for reporting GCA breaches and often spend £200,000+ in private legal costs before regulators engage; the Clappison case exemplified regulator abandonment until court intervention
• Top 10 supermarkets control 96.7% of grocery sales while some pay zero corporation tax; dairy farmers currently produce below cost of production despite 'fair dealing' obligations introduced by government
• ASCA is operational with only 4 full-time staff and has handled 20+ informal referrals through non-formal resolution, but is acknowledged to be in early 'honeymoon period' before legitimacy is tested

Why it matters

Food supply chain fairness directly determines whether British farmers remain viable and whether food security depends on a consolidated, lightly-regulated supermarket sector—with knock-on effects on food prices, rural communities, and UK agricultural independence.

Tone arc

Inquiry opened procedurally examining regulatory frameworks (April 2025), but shifted sharply adversarial by December 2025 when evidence revealed structural conflicts of interest and inadequate regulator resourcing. Final April 2026 sessions with regulators themselves became confrontational, with stark questioning of whether informal collaborative models serve suppliers or entrench supermarket dominance.

Key witnesses

Mark White, Groceries Code Adjudicator, Richard Thompson, Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator, Dame Angela Eagle MP, Minister (DEFRA), Daniel Zeichner, DEFRA Minister, Emily Miles, Food Standards Authority, Andrew Opie, British Retail Consortium, Kate Dearden MP, Minister for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection