If there was one business in the UK that deserves to be the subject of a Competition Commission inquiry, it’s politics. There is barely any choice, questionable value for money and, infuriatingly, no refund policy.

Instead, it is an industry that has provided an abundant selection of goods, low prices, unrelenting innovation and a customer-knows-best philosophy that is up before the competition authorities for the fourth time in eight years.

The supermarkets in Britain have been a public good, giving people more of a choice of life for less. Nonetheless, shrill political arguments rather than a sound business case have once again forced a public review of what is essentially a consumer-friendly industry.

Fortunately, Peter Freeman, the Competition Commission chairman, has avoided populist politics and cheap headlines to steer a sensible path. He has not succumbed to heckling from the small business lobby, rejecting the notion that independent, local stores have been hampered by the supermarkets’ growth. Nor has he sought to meddle too much with the relationship between suppliers and retailers. And he has rejected the claims of rival supermarkets that Tesco should be punished for its success.

The possibility of forced divestments by Tesco will be seized upon by the Tescophobes. Yet they are relatively few and far between, more or less in proportion to Tesco’s share of the market and in keeping with the principle that market competition should be enforced as rigourously locally as nationally and they are, in fact, good for Tesco. Sir Terry Leahy’s team has known for a while they will not be able to repeat the success of the past decade simply by continuing to grow in the UK. Increasingly they will depend for growth on their performance abroad, particularly America. The commission has just reminded them their future lies a long way from Cheshunt.

Whatever conclusions are drawn when the final report is published next May, the commission has set a sensible framework for the debate: it has signaled that market forces, not special pleading, will determine the winners and losers on the high street.

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