Clause 20 - Duty to make references in relation to completed mergers
Enterprise Bill
3:00 pm
Miss Melanie Johnson (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Welwyn Hatfield, Labour)
I have to disagree with my hon. Friend. I understand the points that he makes, but to introduce other considerations would be to widen the Bill beyond strict competition issues; it would draw in other issues that would be subject to a considerable degree of interpretation. My hon. Friends have made a number of useful remarks, including pointing out that the existing provision, under which the Biwater decision was made, was based on a public interest test. None the less, it did not help my hon. Friend in his concerns about its outcome.