Recent reports in the national press show that supermarkets don't sell cheap food, we just think they do. The supermarkets keep a few key items cheap, "loss leaders", and get their profits on everything else. Supermarkets are selling an illusion of cheapness. Furthermore, the unhealthy concentration of power in the hands of just four supermarket chains is threatening our local economies. Between 1997-2002, specialised stores including bakers and tobacconists closed at the rate of 50 per week. Tesco Express stores, which are opening across Gloucestershire, have reportedly caused drops in business of 30%-40% for local shops. We now hear that Sainsbury has made a massive £130m corner shop bid. By not buying at our local shops, our local economies are being starved. Because of the way local economies are interlinked, £1 spent in an independent store is worth double to an area than the same spend in a chain supermarket. And local stores often stock local. Supermarkets make 1%-2% of turnover from local food-providers, while this accounts for about 80% of the goods in urban independent shops. Sadly government policy has facilitated the dominance of supermarkets, every step of the way. The cheap air transportation (out-of-reach to smaller retailers) and free car parking that the supermarkets rely on, are made possible because neither aviation fuel nor out-of-town parking space is taxed. Supermarkets can get away with paying suppliers/farmers a pittance, because they only have to comply with a voluntary Code of Practice which just 44% of farmers are aware of anyway. Supermarkets should be taxed according to the environmental and social costs of their out-of-town stores - for example £25,000 a week in road congestion. A mandatory Code of Practice should be established, backed up by a government watchdog. Internationally, 'food security' should replace 'free trade' as the overriding objective. If government policy can slant competition towards big business, then the reverse can also be true.

Carol Kambites Green Party candidate for the European Parliament