Sainsbury’s and Asda are in merger talks according to reports today. The combined group would account for 30% of the UK grocery market, further concentrating the market in just a few hands.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable said:

“The grocery market – and the British shopper – already suffers from the mid-market being dominated by just a handful of big players. What the merger of the second and third biggest supermarkets threatens is the creation of even more concentrated local monopolies, so it is obvious that there must be an investigation by the Competition & Markets Authority, starting immediately.”