MPs warn on ice-cream jobs

AN ALL-PARTY group of British members of Parliament yesterday warned that an inquiry by the Competition Commission into "impulse" ice-cream sales threatens jobs in the industry.

Iain Ferguson, chairman Birds Eye Wall's, added that it may not be able to sustain present levels of investment in Britain if the Commission persists with some of the "hypothetical remedies it is considering".

Birds Eye Wall's, part of the Anglo-Dutch group Unilever, employs about 2,000 people, either directly at its factory in Gloucester, western England, or with sub-contractors in producing and distributing Wall's icecream. The Commission's inquiry, launched in December 1998, is due to report to the Trade and Industry Secretary Stephen Byers on 21 September.

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