Cameron acknowledges need to address competition law issues at BITC AGM

The Prime Minister David Cameron said at yesterday’s BITC AGM and Leadership Summit: “I get the message loud and clear, and we will do everything we can to tackle those barriers head on – whether it is the red tape you face …whether it is being able to collaborate as businesses without having the competition authorities throwing you in jail. I understand the barriers. We are going to work with you to get rid of them.”

This was in response to the business challenge presented by Sir Stuart Rose off the back of BITC’s latest member research (pg 6):
Competition law
A perceived barrier to greater business collaboration is where business feel it could be deemed anti-competitive to come together to discuss some of the core sector wide issues, even when this could have a powerful social or environmental impact.

Often there is felt to be insufficient commercial advantage for one organisation to take the lead. Business leaders suggest creating neutral cross-sector environments for companies to come together without fear of reprimand under competition law, enabling more companies to take significant steps towards greater engagement.

“70% of business leaders surveyed say it is important that government removes the red tape associated with businesses collaborating on the impacts of their core business.”

Today’s FT reports“Rules that prevent welfare claimants from taking part-time jobs or longer work placements should be eased, business leaders said, along with competition laws that prevent businesses from collaborating on sector-wide initiatives… Mr Cameron pledged to “tackle these barriers head on””

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