Clause 20 - Duty to make references in relation to completed mergers
Enterprise Bill
3:15 pm
Mr Harry Barnes (North East Derbyshire, Labour)
A process under which a report was issued to the Secretary of State from the OFT stating that everything was okay and failing to indicate that the closure of the plant was afoot, the news of which was suddenly dropped on people, would be very disturbing. There was concern in my constituency about the result and the consequences, and people were trying to mitigate that. However, they also objected to the procedure under which the decision was made, the inadequacy of any consultation with the work force and the misleading behaviour of the Biwater management. Those factors were also important. We cannot divide decisions from the procedures under which they are made. That is an important element of democracy.