London - The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, yesterday dismissed the Government's defeat over an amendment to the Competition Bill, insisting it was not the right way to deal with predatory pricing in the newspaper industry, writes Rachel Donnelly.
At Question Time, Mr Blair pledged the Bill would give the Office of Fair Trading stronger powers to investigate alleged abuse of dominant market position, including predatory pricing.
The amendment to the Bill, aimed at protecting newspapers from the price wars sparked off by the London Times, is seen as a direct attack on Mr Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corporation owns the Times and the Sun.
The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Mr Paddy Ashdown, challenged the government's treatment of newspapers, which it said was the same as its treatment of "tins of beans". "It manifestly isn't," Mr Ashdown said. But Mr Blair replied the amendment wasn't "right in principle or the right way to deal with the problem".