Last week I was able to attend the annual City Food Lecture and hear Tesco ceo Sir Terry Leahy share his thoughts and views on consumers and competition.

Expectations were high that, faced with a roomful of food and farming leaders, the Tesco top dog was going to come a cropper under a barrage of awkward questions about payment terms and the chain’s recent move to position itself as Britain’s biggest discounter. However, the general consensus after the event was that he got off pretty lightly and the questioning was surprisingly mild - a real pity, considering that he faced his harshest critics under one roof. If further proof were needed of the power that Tesco holds in this marketplace, surely this was it.

What was plain from his presentation, however, is that the Tesco chief advocates the sovereignty of the consumer above all else - trust in the consumer and the market economy and we will come through the recession fitter than ever, was the main thrust of his argument. While to some extent this may be true, the argument of panel member Lord Krebs that the real cost of investing so heavily in the market economy has yet to be paid rang truer for me. Consumers tend to look at what is good for them short term - price - meaning it is up to businesses and governments to invest in long-term gains for the environment and sustainable food supply. Surely the customer cannot always be right.