Competition

HC Deb 20 November 1997 vol 301 cc449-52

14. Mr. Hanson

What measures her Department is taking to promote competition. [15403]

The Minister for Competition and Consumer Affairs (Mr. Nigel Griffiths)

The Government's commitment to competition is demonstrated by the introduction of the competition Bill, with new laws to focus on genuinely anti-competitive behaviour. It will remove the current bureaucratic laws on cartels. The Confederation of British Industry has welcomed our broad approach.

Mr. Hanson

Does my hon. Friend agree that the competition Bill will ensure that companies that face anti-competitive behaviour will have a stronger hand in tackling the problem? Will he confirm that the Bill will bring us into line with our European partners? What do consumer groups feel about the Bill? I am sure that they, too, will welcome it.

Mr. Griffiths

I can give my hon. Friend the assurance that he seeks. We have received more than 160 responses to our consultation document. Our approach has attracted broad support across the spectrum from businesses, from consumer organisations and from competition practitioners. The Bill will create the right conditions for the success of British businesses in the global marketplace.

Mr. Bercow

Will the Minister give the House a guarantee that he will protect local pubs, petrol stations and newsagents from the threat to their trading that the competition Bill poses?

Mr. Griffiths

I think that we all noted that a note was passed to the hon. Gentleman by the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood). The hon. Gentleman would have done well to have read the Bill and followed its proceedings in the Lords. If he had, he would know that he has just raised a red herring.

Mr. Bercow

Answer.

Mr. Griffiths

I am answering. This is part of the clear smear that the Conservatives have mounted to frighten small businesses and others. There is no truth in his allegation.

Mr. Prosser

I welcome yesterday's announcement by the President of the Board of Trade of the decision to allow the setting up of a merged ferry company, which will provide better opportunities for ferries sailing from my home port of Dover to compete with the channel tunnel. Is my hon. Friend aware that, if the proposals had been rejected, it would have caused far more redundancies than the 1,000 faced by my constituents? Does he understand the anger felt by people in Dover when they see a bankrupt channel tunnel, with £8 billion-worth of debt around its neck, continuing to steal trade from the successful ferry fleet and destroy jobs in Dover?

Mr. Griffiths

I shall of course pass my hon. Friend's welcoming comments to my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade.

Mr. Breed

Will the Minister consider introducing measures similar to those in other European countries which would prevent retailers from selling their goods below a certain level in order to protect and enforce fair competition?

Mr. Griffiths

We have no plans at the moment to introduce such measures. We are guided by the key principle that competition should be fair and should be seen to be fair.

Mr. Gardiner

I am grateful for my hon. Friend's remarks about promoting competition, and especially about the way in which small and medium-sized enterprises should be supported as opposed to larger public companies. Will he investigate a contract which I understand is being tendered this week for the DTI export sales leads service? Will he particularly examine the way in which his Department has dealt with the Cequel Link consortium in my constituency, which has tendered for the project but seems to have been met on most occasions by civil servants who were keen to question the capacity of a consortium comprising small and medium-sized enterprises to run the service, rather than to consider the substantive nature of the positive aspects of the bid? This is an extremely important matter to my constituency.

Mr. Griffiths

I have listened with care to my hon. Friend. My colleagues and I will certainly give careful consideration to any further evidence that he cares to submit.

Mrs. Gillan

Given that when considering competition issues the President of the Board of Trade should listen to all sides of the case before reaching a conclusion, why did the Minister for Competition and Consumer Affairs tell the Sunday Mirror on 31 August that he was going to slash the prices of electrical goods more than two weeks before the consultation period on electrical retailing was completed, thereby prejudging any outcome? Has he not totally undermined the President's obligation impartially to consider all representations on competition matters and totally destroyed the industry's confidence in that impartiality? The Minister has already stood aside from three competition inquiries. Will he now stand down from all competition matters to save any further embarrassment?

Mr. Griffiths

It is a shame that we spend a great deal of time ensuring that the hon. Lady gets copies of DTI press releases. If she had read my right hon. Friend's welcoming comments about the inquiry, she would know that the usual procedures were followed in full and that my right hon. Friend will be considering the matter objectively, as ever. It was interesting to note that the hon. Lady contacted officials at the Department of Trade and Industry twice this week to find out how the procedures worked. I should have thought that someone of her experience—a senior Front-Bench spokesperson—would have known that. Perhaps she should come in for a seminar. I offer her the opportunity.