W e have entered 2000 with a big farce on our hands. No, I’m not talking about the elusive millennium bug or even the queues to get in to the Dome.
But rather the issue of transparency – or lack of it on the high street.
Many in the industry argue that consumers are getting a good deal and that they don’t care whether Thomson owns Lunn Poly or Airtours owns Going Places.
That’s not the point. The fact is that over two years ago the Government ruled that ownership links should be made clear on the front of high-street shops and still it has not happened.
If the law is not going to be enforced, what on earth was the point of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission report into the industry in the first place?
No wonder this industry is a soft target for consumer groups which naturally think the big companies have got something to hide.
This Government has been reasonably supportive of the industry, by scrapping the two-tier level of Insurance Premium Tax and making small concessions on Air Passenger Duty.
But on the issue of transparency, it should hang its head in shame. It’s time to stop all the waffling and force all the vertically integrated companies to comply within a certain time limit or face financial penalties.
Jeremy Skidmore – editor