Buying Up Britain - supermarket operations - Industry Overview

Ecologist, The, Nov, 2000 by George Monbiot

In 1999, the government published the first of its 'annual reports', which would tell the nation how well it was doing. It was launched not in Westminster, but in the Kensington Tesco. The prime minister's office had given the supermarket chain an exclusive contract to sell it. It officially entered the public domain when Jack Cunningham, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, handed a copy to the head of Tesco. The superstores no longer need to lobby the government, because the government is lobbying the superstores.

George Monbiot is an environmental writer and campaigner, regular Guardian columnist, and founder of The Land is Ours.

This article is edited from a section of George Monbiot's new book Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain, published by Macmillan, price [pounds]12.99. (c) George Monbiot 2000.

(1.) Verdict, cited in The Guardian, 20th December 1999.

(2.) Keynote Ltd, 1997. Retailing in the UK.

(3.) Research by Verdict, cited in Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, October 1998. The Impact of Large Foodstores an Market Towns and District Centres. The Stationery Office, London.

(4.) Keynote Ltd, 1998. Supermarkets and Superstores.

(5.) Keynote Ltd, 1997. Retailing in the UK.

(6.) Department of the Environment. Transport and the Regions, October 1998. The Impact of Large Foodstores on Market Towns and District Centres. The Stationery Office, London.

(7.) Sam Porter, Paul Raistrick, January 1998. The Impact of Out-of-Centre Food Superstores on Local Retail Employment. The National Retail Planning Forum, do Corporate Analysis, Boots Company PLC, Nottingham.

(8.) As above.

(9.) Letter tram Emma Hallett, New Economics Foundation, April 1998.

(10.) Government Statistical Service. National Travel Survey, 1989/91; National Travel Survey, 1994/96.

(11.) Hugh Raven, Tim Lang and Caroline Dumonteil, 1995. Off Our Trolleys? Institute for Public Policy Research, London.

(12.) The Observer, 26th July 1998.

(13.) As above.

(14.) Department at the Environment, Transport and the Regions, 1998. A New Deal for Transport: Better for Everyone. The Stationery Office, London.

(15.) John Breach, 29th July 1998. Press Release. Pollution: Time to Turn the Smoglight on the Multiples, and Gasp. The British Independent Fruit Growers' Association.

(16.) Angela Paxton, 1994. The Food Miles Report: The Dangers of Long Distance Food Transport. The SAFE Alliance, London.

(17.) As above.

(18.) Freight magazine, December 1999, April 1998, March 1998. Published by the Freight Transport Association. Global Transport, Spring 1997.

(19.) Mail on Sunday, 12th May 1996.

(20.) The Guardian, 28th October 1993.

(21.) Tesco, Summer 1998. Clubcard Magazine.

(22.) Caroline Cranbrook, 1997. The Rural Economy and Supermarkets. Great Glemham Farms, Suffolk.

(23.) The Grower, 23rd October 1997, cited in Shayne Mitchell, 1998. Checking Out the Supermarkets: Competition in Retailing. Published by Colin Breed MP, House of Commons.

(24.) John Cleland, Director of Produce, Meat, Poultry and Fish, Asda. 13th October 1998. Letter to Suppliers.