§ Mr. D. N. Campbell-Savours (Workington)I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 20, for the purpose of discussing an important, urgent and specific matter, namely,
the deep sense of outrage felt by people in the north over the below-the-belt tactics being deployed by Scottish and Newcastle Breweries in its bid to take over Matthew Brown Brewery.The matter is specific because if Scottish and Newcastle Breweries—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. Will the hon. Gentleman please keep his Standing Order No. 20 application in line with the application that he made to me?
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursI shall come directly to the point.
The matter is specific because if S and N were to succeed it is likely to close the profitable Matthew Brown brewery in Workington, in which £750,000 has just been invested. The people of Workington are deeply concerned that its closure would further boost the high levels of unemployment.
The matter is important because S and N is turning the stock market collapse to its commercial advantage by stampeding frightened investors into selling their shares in Matthew Brown for cash. The spectacle of S and N's squalid tactics on the stock market can only be likened to the activity of a wartime black marketeer, who profits out of misfortune, or to a looter, whose only opportunity to loot occurs when a natural disaster has struck. Where are the traditional British values of fair play? At a time when desperate attempts are under way to restore sanity to the money markets, surely the greedy and avaricious practices of the Casbah should be condemned.
The matter is urgent because this bid epitomises the contradiction that lies at the heart of merger policy. On the one hand agencies of the Government are promoting enterprise, but on the other we have a merger policy that allows a predator to pursue its quarry with the single objective of stripping out its assets. This hunt is taking place, not in the industrial heartland of the north, but in the City of London, as yuppies clamber over themselves in a desperate attempt to cut their losses.
The matter is also urgent because the affair, which is riddled with irregularities, awaits the findings of the stock exchange surveillance department investigation into insider dealing on the day prior to S and N's bid.
The House will want an assurance from the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry that this bid will be referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. Scottish and Newcastle Breweries must be stopped in its tracks. A debate will stop it.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Member asks leave to move the Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that he believes should have urgent consideration, namely,
the need for a reference to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission of the bid for Matthew Brown by Scottish and Newcastle Breweries following upon the 3 o'clock deadline set by Scottish and Newcastle Breweries for the acceptance of cash in the purchase of shares.I listened with care to what the hon. Member said, but I regret that I do not consider the matter that he has raised 23 to be appropriate for discussion under Standing Order No. 20, and I cannot therefore submit his application to the House.