§ The Earl of SwintonMy Lords, with the leave of the House, I will arrange for a Statement that is to be made in another place on the Monopolies and Mergers Commission Report on the Scottish and Newcastle Breweries to be printed in the Official Report but not repeated orally.
Following is the Statement referred to:
"With permission, Mr. Speaker, I should like to make a Statement.
"The report of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission on Scottish and Newcastle Breweries and Matthew Brown was published on 12th November. The commission has concluded that while the merger could not be expected materially to benefit the public interest, there are not sufficient grounds for concluding that the proposed merger may be expected to operate against the public interest. In the absence of an adverse public interest finding by the commission, my right honourable and learned friend the Secretary of State has no powers under the Fair Trading Act to intervene to prevent, or to impose any conditions on such a merger.
"Following press reports at the end of last week, it has been suggested that there may have been a leak of confidential information in advance of the report's publication. An investigation is under way to establish whether there has been a leak.
"My attention has been drawn to the existence of a letter from my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Scotland, about which he has written to the honourable Member for Blackburn (Mr. Straw). That, together with all other material which may be relevant, will be considered in the context of the investigation."