Our Who Pays? campaign took a step closer to achieving its goal of a supermarket watchdog today.

The government inquiry into supermarket power – undertaken by the Competition Commission – published its latest working paper. It said that a supermarket watchdog may be among their final recommendations, which is exactly what we’ve been calling for. 

The Who pays? campaign launched last spring, campaigning for a watchdog to ensure UK supermarkets don’t abuse their power over their suppliers and keep women workers in developing countries in poverty.

We’ve already had an amazing 35,000 people sign the Who pays? loyalty pledge, demanding new rules to make sure supermarkets play fair overseas – it has already had an impact.

However, the job is not finished yet! The Commission doesn’t publish its final report until early May, so we must keep up the pressure. We need to make sure the Commission stands firm and introduces the watchdog in the face of heavy lobbying from supermarkets to water down the proposals. We also need them to go further, and make sure the watchdog will oversee supermarkets’ relationships with their suppliers in developing countries.

ActionAid’s Dominic Eagleton said: "We welcome their proposal for an independent ombudsman to make supermarkets play fair. But the regulator has to have a global reach, as supermarkets are global businesses that buy goods worth seven million pounds every day from developing countries."