Competition Commission should go further to curb big supermarkets, says David Lepper

David Lepper, Labour and Co-operative MP for Brighton Pavilion, says that while the preliminary report of the Competition Commission on the grocery trade published on Wednesday (31 October) goes someway towards highlighting the problems caused by the dominance of the big five supermarket chains (Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and Somerfield ), its proposals to look at planning issues about supermarkets could increase their dominance.

David is a life member of the Association of Town Centre Management and was part of the parliamentary All Party Small Shops Group which last year published a report warning of the dangers to smaller independent high street traders if current trends involving the big five supermarkets continue.

David says:

“We believe our report helped to convince the Office of Fair Trading of the need for this inquiry in supermarkets in the grocery trade. I’m sorry it didn’t also look at the impact of supermarkets on retail generally since none of the big five just deals in groceries any more.

“There are already concerns about this in the Laines and North Laine in Brighton.”

David added:

“I welcome the preliminary report’s call to deal with the lack of choice some customers have between supermarkets, the relationship between the
supermarkets and their suppliers, and especially the increasing land-banking of sites by the big five for possible future use as stores deny other developers the use of the land involved either for shops, other businesses or housing.

“However, I am concerned that when it publishes its final report next year the Competition Commission could recommend relaxing planning laws about location for supermarkets in a way which could damage town and city centres and lead to even greater growth of the supermarket sector in the name of ensuring competition between rival store groups.”