Downing Street Says » Supermarket Pricing Fixing

» Friday, December 7, 2007

Supermarket Pricing Fixing

Asked if the Prime Minister was concerned that two of the country’s biggest supermarkets were fixing the price of milk, the PMS replied that it was often forgotten that it was the Prime Minister, when he was Chancellor, who brought forward very significant reforms, in conjunction with Patricia Hewitt (then Secretary of State for DTI), regarding the competition regime; it was this Government that introduced the independence of the Competition Commission and it was the Prime Minister, when Chancellor, who had introduced the independence of the Bank of England. That had happened in 2001 and as a result of that we had seen, not commenting on specific cases, competition policy with more edge, with benefits for consumers.

Put that in this case fines would be paid and that the Prime Minister must have a view, the PMS replied that we would not normally comment on individual decisions taken by other independent bodies like, for example, the Bank of England; we would not comment on individual companies and specific decisions taken by them, but this was a good example of the new framework operating in practice.

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