Competition In The Newspaper Distribution Industry

EDM number 714 in 2002-03, proposed by Brian Cotter on 11/02/2003.

That this House warmly welcomes the findings of the Office of Fair Trading's review of undertakings given by newspaper wholesalers; notes that they confirm what independent newsagents have been saying; that power is increasingly concentrated in the hands of just three wholesalers, that carriage charges have risen faster than costs yet service quality has fallen, that such high carriage charge increases reduce newspaper availability, that exclusive territories are questionable especially where there is not competitive tendering for the territories, that newsagent shop numbers have peaked and are now falling and that this is affecting home delivery; therefore believes that if the resultant recommendations are to offer any possibility of introducing greater competition in the industry, their implementation must include allowing selling on across territories as suggested in para 6.25; recognises that only newsagents can indicate whether sub-retailing is workable at all; and therefore calls upon the Office of Fair Trading to pay particular attention to the NFRN's further response.

This motion has been signed by a total of 184 MPs.