If you're a regularly coiffeured, dog loving, computer games and music buff, who suffers from frequent calls of nature after swigging gallons of coffee, Coca-Cola and lager, then New Labour has news for you. You're feeling the effects of Rip-off Britain. Never mind what those greedy supermarkets claim, the message from the DTI to users of Sega Dreamcast games, Top Ten CDs, two-litre bottles of Coca-Cola, dogfood, lager, shampoo, ground coffee and toilet tissue is that you would be better off shopping in the US, France or Germany. The products are cheaper there than in the good old UK. At least, that's the conclusion of Stephen Byers' first international price survey, which, according to all the forecasts, was set to confirm that Rip-off Britain was a reality where most grocery products were concerned. Embarrassingly for Byers, however, the research actually showed consumers were only coughing up more cash for eight of 56 items surveyed, leaving his Rip-off Britain crusade looking sad where grocery is concerned. Given the earlier interim report of the Competition Commission, one can't help wondering at what stage it began to dawn on other Whitehall officials, and the headline seeking politicos who jumped on the Rip-off bandwagon, that their campaign lacked substance. For lo, after all the lobbying of recent months, it's now being suggested that at a Number 10 breakfast for leading businessmen, many of them Labour donors at the election, the PM was given a verbal roasting over the invalidity of the allegations. If that's all it takes to make the Whitehall lot think again, why has the BRC been huffing and puffing for so many months? As recent events have proved, high street competition will always be the strongest defence in any Rip-off debate. But beware ­ the would-be consumer champions at the DTI may already be plotting their next wheeze, despite the latest embarrassment. All the more reason why IGD's bid to build a better understanding of the food business in the wider world mustn't falter. It's not only Nick Brown who needs to be kept up to speed. Clive Beddall, Editor {{OPINION }}

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