Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mohammad Yasin and Greg Clark

Tuesday 16th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

3. Whether he has made an assessment of the effect of the proposed merger of Sainsbury’s and Asda on the (a) pay, (b) conditions and (c) job security of the employees of those companies.

[The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Greg Clark)]

Sainsbury’s has confirmed that there are no planned store closures as a result of the merger. The proposed merger of Sainsbury’s and Asda remains conditional on clearance by the Competition and Markets Authority. I wrote to the CMA on the issue in May, and the Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, my hon. Friend the Member for Rochester and Strood (Kelly Tolhurst) and I had a meeting with the chief executive of Sainsbury’s yesterday.

[Mohammad Yasin]

It is right that the concerns of the workers are heard during the Asda-Sainsbury’s merger, so does the Secretary of State agree that there is a pressing need for the Competition and Markets Authority to hear the worker’s voice and take into account the impact of any merger or takeover on the workforce, not just on the competition?

[Greg Clark]

It is true that the directors of the company have an obligation to have regard to the workforce. The CMA is independent of the Government, as the hon. Gentleman knows. It will make its report and assessment, and I am sure that it will look at all the companies’ responsibilities.