The government is being urged to introduce legislation to create a grocery ombudsman, if the UK’s top 10 grocers refuse to voluntarily accept the implementation of such a regulator, says The Independent.

Following the Competition Commission’s report findings published in April, Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy and the leaders of Asda, Sainsbury’s and Iceland will face an ombudsman to assess their treatment of suppliers and an updated code of conduct.

But the introduction of an ombudsman could be delayed, as the stores are unlikely to agree on how much power the postholder should wield. A Sainsbury’s spokesman suggested the chain felt the move was “an unnecessary measure”.

The Cross Cutting Remedies Group, a coalition of MPs and pressure groups chaired by Liberal Democrat MP Andrew George, is calling for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform to threaten legislation if the supermarkets do not sign up to the ombudsman scheme.

George said: “If supermarkets want to be obstructive, then we would require primary legislation.” He has called for the department to threaten to introduce legislation when it makes its formal response to the commission’s report, which is expected this week.

The coalition would like the supermarkets tsar to be “proactive”, said a source, with the ability to investigate allegations of poor practice rather than just dealing with official complaints. The source added that suppliers lived in a “culture of fear”.

An Asda spokeswoman said the chain was “agnostic” about the ombudsman, but warned the intervention could drive up costs: “It would be ironic if the end result of introducing an ombudsman was to force up prices... at a time when household budgets are being stretched and inflation is at its highest level for years.”

A Tesco spokesman said: “Unless everyone in the industry can agree to sign up to the proposal, we believe that it would require legislation. We work hard to ensure that we have good relations with our suppliers, and more than 1,500 of our suppliers have been with us for five years or more.”

Supermarkets are expected to agree terms by January, and if not, legislation will be recommended.

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