Clause 201 - Consumers
Enterprise Bill
8:00 pm
Dr Vincent Cable (Twickenham, Liberal Democrat)
I should like to identify myself with those comments. We on the Liberal Democrat Benches regard the consumer protection provisions as possibly the most important parts of the Bill and, as I stated in my opening remarks to the Committee, until recently so did the Department for Trade and Industry. However, we have a ludicrously short time in which to discuss them and the Government amendments that we hope will improve them.
I share some of the concerns expressed about the definition of a consumer. The example of petrol retailers was cited. Another topical example is that
of newsagents, who have to buy from big distributors. Newsagents are retailers, but the terms on which they act as buyers—consumers buying from the two or three distributors that dominate that market—raise major competition issues. There are many similar examples of companies at different stages of the hierarchy of production and distribution being both consumers and producers. It is important that businesses that are themselves consumers should be protected.