Budgens calls for block on Safeway bids

Budgens has made a last-ditch plea to Secretary of State Patricia Hewitt to block all the big grocers' attempts to buy Safeway.

Budgens executive chairman Eoin McGettigan said that a victory by Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's or Morrisons would cause suppliers to put pressure on convenience-store players, in order to recoup margin losses suffered at the hands of the giant multiples.

He added: 'Budgens would also urge the Secretary of State to note the Competition Commission's 2000 report into supermarkets, which said that further consolidation would be damaging.'

The Competition Commission's deadline for reporting to the Department of Trade and Industry on the proposed Safeway bids has been extended until Monday.

According to a DTI statement, the extension followed a request from one of the interested parties - understood to be Asda - for an extra meeting.

Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt is on holiday until the end of August, but civil servants will look at the report in her absence.

- Leader: page 11.