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GMB SLAMMED “tin-eared” Tory ministers today for refusing to step in over an £11 billion debt-laden merger between Asda and petrol forecourt business EG Group.
In a letter to Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch last month, the general union warned that the move, spearheaded by the supermarket giant’s billionaire owners Mohsin and Zuber Issa, could threaten food supplies and affect fuel prices.
It urged the Saffron Waldon MP to ensure the Competition and Markets Authority intervened.
But, responding to a written question from Labour member Charlotte Nichols asking if Ms Badenoch has had discussions with the regulator, her department claimed today that she is “not involved in specific cases.”
GMB national officer Nadine Houghton accused Asda’s owners and mega-rich private equity firm TDR capital of wanting to use the supermarket as a “cash cow to pay off debts.”
“This merger is wrong for consumers as it will increase food prices, it’s wrong for drivers with a chilling effect on fuel prices and it’s wrong for Asda workers,” she said.
She urged the “tin-eared secretary of state not to play fast and loose with food and fuel supplies.”
