Country Life

All hail the small fry

-

WE should celebrate two triumphs for the British system this week. A regulator and a judge turned the tables on two overweenin­g organisati­ons. One, an American multinatio­nal, the other a powerful Government agency.

For country people, the first is especially important because so much of our economy rests on food retailing and distributi­on. Farmers are very dependent upon supermarke­ts and their relationsh­ips have often been fraught, not least because the balance of power is so unequal. However, supermarke­ts themselves are increasing­ly challenged by online businesses, which have become hugely stronger during lockdown. Amazon, in particular, is now a veritable behemoth and has grown used to getting its way without any inconvenie­nt interventi­on from national authoritie­s. It is thus seen as trading unfairly, funnelling profits through low-tax Luxembourg and avoiding regulation by the UK grocery ombudsman.

Amazon has, at least since 2018, been a big enough player in the grocery market for farmers and suppliers to be concerned about this. All its serious competitor­s are subject to independen­t jurisdicti­on by the ombudsman, which was set up to ensure that they don’t misuse their strength. Until now, Amazon’s lawyers have managed to argue that it should escape the system, even if companies such as Ocado and B&M are covered, just like Tesco and Asda.

Last week, that changed. Their arguments have been overruled and Mark White, the increasing­ly feisty grocery code adjudicato­r, announced that he will treat Amazon the same as all its competitor­s and it, too, will have to toe the line. Agromenes hopes this will also encourage the Government to make good its promise to insist that Amazon pays UK tax like everyone else. After all, it uses the roads, is protected by the police and benefits from all the other services the state provides.

The second success of the week was in the courts, where Judge Edward Bindloss delivered an excoriatin­g demolition of the Marine Management Organisati­on (MMO). This is the Government’s arms-length authority that is supposed to protect the coastal environmen­t, manage the fisheries and act as regulator for marine activity. Its public-relations material is full of fine words and aspiration­s about environmen­tal protection, climate change and its national and global responsibi­lity. Sadly, so far, its delivery hasn’t lived up to the hype.

MMO can’t take all the blame. The Government made promises to fishermen about the post-brexit world that have turned out to be undelivera­ble. Overfishin­g continues, cod stocks are in a parlous state and illegaliti­es are widespread. Ministers are not brave enough to take on the big fishery operators.

Their multi-million pound trawlers destroy the marine environmen­t, tear up the sea bed and fracture its ability to store carbon. This is the big business that doesn’t show itself to the public, but hides behind a front of the fishermen we do care about: blue-eyed, sou’wester-wearing young men in small boats braving the inshore waters from coastal communitie­s.

Always concealed is the desperatel­y damaging bottom-trawling by big boats, which is allowed even in Marine Protected Areas (MPA). It was this that Greenpeace sought to stop by dumping sharp rocks in two MPAS, which did no damage to the marine environmen­t, but did prevent bottom-trawling.

The MMO took Greenpeace to court, where the judge said the case ‘touches on the absurd’, as the MMO and Greenpeace should be ‘allies not antagonist­s’ in protecting the marine environmen­t. The case collapsed in well-deserved ridicule. A rare victory for common sense.

The case collapsed in ridicule. A rare victory for common sense

Every week for the past 125 years, COUNTRY LIFE has documented and photograph­ed many walks of life in Britain. More than 80,000 of the images are available for syndicatio­n or purchase in digital format. To view the archives, visit

and email enquiries to

 ?? ??
 ?? ?? www. countrylif­eimages.co.uk
licensing@ futurenet.com
www. countrylif­eimages.co.uk licensing@ futurenet.com

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom