GMB Union has branded the trade secretary “tin-earned” as her department refused to intervene over a potential merger between Asda and EG Group.
The plan, which will merge Asda and EG Group‘s UK division, comes as part of the Issa Brother’s ongoing efforts to reduce EG Group’s £7bn debt burden.
However, it has sparked concerns that it could increase the supermarket groups‘s existing debt, which currently stands at £4.7bn.
Last month, the trade union said the deal could “threaten food supply, fuel prices and 100,000 jobs” if it were to go ahead, and called on secretary of state for business and trade Kemi Badenoch to ensure the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stepped in.
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In response, the department said: “The CMA is responsible for investigating the impact of mergers and acquistions on competition. The secretary for state for business is therefore not involved with specific cases.”
However, GMB national officer Nadine Houghton has said the secretary for state “has unique powers to order a CMA investigation”.
“By refusing to use these powers she is turning her back on hard working communities who rely on healthy competition in the food and fuel market – as well as turning her back on thousands of Asda workers who need job security,” she said.
Houghton added that the merger is “wrong on so many levels”, claiming that it “will increase food prices,” and will have a “chilling effect on fuel prices”.
“The only people this deal benefits are the super wealthy elite pulling the strings at the top of Asda and EG Group.”
