§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will make a statement on his Department's policy on mergers between major auditing firms.
§ Mr. RedwoodMy Department's policy on mergers remains as set out in the Blue Paper published in 1988 entitled "Mergers Policy"—that the main consideration in deciding whether to refer a merger or proposed merger to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission should be the effect on competition in the United Kingdom. This applies equally to mergers between auditing firms as to any other mergers.