What we were able to change with the Financial Services and Markets Bill – part two June 27, 2023 Part two on the changes that have been made to the Financial Services and Markets Bill focuses on regulator accountability.
Supermarkets behaving badly: Asda and Morrisons bosses back ‘transparent’ fuel pricing model June 27, 2023 Supermarkets bosses have been grilled by MPs on prices at the pump and agreed to consider entering into a fuel model which would give more transparency. The government has been mulling a scheme whereby petrol stations would have to share live prices in efforts to bring more price transparency for drivers – a similar system [...]
Pressure on supermarkets to lower prices sends food inflation to new low June 27, 2023 Supermarkets slashing the prices of kitchen staples such as bread, milk and cheese has helped ease food inflation in a welcome boost for shoppers. Food inflation fell to 14.6 per cent in June, down from 15.4 per cent in May, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The decline marks the second consecutive monthly [...]
Jeremy Hunt to meet CMA, Ofgem, Ofwat and Ofcom over ‘profiteering’ concerns June 26, 2023 Jeremy Hunt will ask industry regulators what they are doing about any companies exploiting rampant inflation by raising prices. The Chancellor is set to meet the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), and the watchdogs for energy, water and communications on Wednesday. He will press them on whether there is a profiteering problem in their sectors [...]
CMA blocks tie-up of hearing aid giants citing bid to protect consumers and the NHS June 22, 2023 The competition watchdog said it was protecting customers and the NHS on Thursday as it blocked part of the planned tie-up between two hearing aid companies. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that it would not allow the merger of Cochlear Limited and Oticon Medical to go ahead. Cochlear agreed to buy Oticon from [...]
Claim of supermarkets profiteering doesn’t pass ‘basic smell test,’ says former Sainsbury’s boss June 21, 2023 The former boss of Sainsbury’s has roundly rejected claims that British supermarkets are profiteering during the cost of living crisis, arguing that the government and regulators should focus on helping those in need instead of considering “interfering in markets”. “This idea that [supermarkets] are somehow profiteering in these circumstances… it doesn’t even pass a basic [...]
Adam Smith 300: Adam Smith Institute founder Dr Eamonn Butler on how morality guided the father of economics June 19, 2023 Nobody changed the dismal science of economics quite like Adam Smith, the Scottish philosopher, author of The Wealth of Nations and The Theory of Moral Sentiments, and father of market economics. June marks the 300th anniversary of Smith’s baptism – nobody quite knows his actual birthday – and to mark the occasion, German historian and [...]
Vodafone’s merger with Three is an open and shut case of a monopolistic power June 19, 2023 A merger between Vodafone and Three, two of the biggest telecoms companies in the UK will drive up prices for consumers and kill competition, writes Max von Thun
Tesco: ‘Encouraging signs inflation is starting to ease’ as quarterly revenue tops £14.8bn June 16, 2023 Britain’s biggest supermarket Tesco has reported a nine per cent increase in UK sales, with its new chief executive saying there are “encouraging early signs that inflation is starting to ease”. Tesco said it reported £13bn in sales across the UK and Republic of Ireland, up almost nine per cent on the previous quarter. In [...]
Adam Smith 300: Rainer Zitelmann interviews Eamonn Butler June 16, 2023 We don’t know his exact birthday, but June 16 is the 300th day of Adam Smith’s baptism. What’s clear however is that he changed the science of economics, and the nature of society, forever with his publication of The Wealth of Nations. It is still cited today as the most powerful argument in favour of [...]