Consumer power is the power of confident choice. The OFT's job is to strengthen the grounds for consumer confidence and, through competition, the power of choice. Markets will not work well for consumers unless they also work well for businesses that are good at providing what consumers want. The OFT's prime targets are businesses that exploit consumers - for example, by rigging markets or trading unfairly. Markets that work well for consumers are, moreover, essential for good economic performance generally.
Competition spurs productivity.
And with fair trading, productive efforts are directed positively - at what people want, not at profiteering at their expense. Indeed the markets that we cover span more or less the whole economy. It is not only retail markets that matter for consumers. All the supply chain matters, as world oil prices show. Making markets work well affects everyone in their daily lives.