James Cleverly raises NFU concerns at the Sainsbury’s/Asda merger and seeks assurance that the Government will always promote competition both to improve choice for the consumer and to improve options for people in the supply chain, particularly in farming.
James Cleverly (Braintree) (Con)
The National Farmers Union has expressed disquiet at this proposed merger. Will my hon. Friend give an assurance to me and to the House more generally that the Government will always promote competition both to improve choice for the consumer and to improve options for people in the supply chain, particularly in farming?
Kelly Tolhurst
I thank my hon. Friend for his question. He is absolutely right: one of the things that we are committed to is making sure that we continue with our world-renowned competition regime. It is right that, even at a ministerial level, we are independent of the CMA, but we work very closely with the CMA on priorities, and looking at supply chains is a key area for all mergers, as is how we protect consumers and markets in future.