ACTIONAID WHO PAYS? CAMPAIGN

That this House notes ActionAid's new report Who Pays?, which states that supermarket price wars on bananas mean even lower wages and more insecure jobs for women in Costa Rica; further notes that women in India processing cashews for UK supermarkets have permanent scars on their hands caused by the acid produced by the nuts as they are shelled and that Bangladeshi women making clothes for Tesco and Asda earn as little as 5p an hour and work up to 14 hours a day to meet supermarket demands for quick deliveries; further notes that ActionAid says that, for millions of people in the developing world who pick, pack and stitch the food and clothes that end up on supermarket shelves the way supermarkets exercise their buying power means low wages, long hours and appalling conditions; and calls on the Government to implement the report's recommendations that there be a Competition Commission inquiry into supermarket behaviour and that an official watchdog be established to monitor relationships between supermarkets and suppliers and ensure that minimum standards are met.