Clause 65 - Newspaper mergers
Enterprise Bill
7:00 pm
Miss Melanie Johnson (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Welwyn Hatfield, Labour)
During the consultation on merger reform, we said that the newspaper regime would be considered separately. The Government believe that the newspaper regime should be retained to address plurality concerns, but that it should be better targeted. The regime targets public interest concerns additional to competition, which justify the continued involvement of Ministers. We believe that the proposals in the draft communications Bill will be seen as significantly deregulatory, but we cannot give details before publication. Our approach in making provisions is appropriate.