UK &#8211, Stephen Byers, secretary of state for trade and industry, will take no further action against Robert Wiseman Dairies despite a Competition Commission report clearly stating that a monopoly exists in the supply of fresh processed milk to middle ground retailers in Scotland.

Two members of the investigating team found Wiseman’s actions to be against the public interest and anticipated serious risks for the long-term prospects for competition in Scotland. The remaining two members, however, believed that competition should be viewed as a contest between the largest processor in the UK, Express Dairies, and a rapidly growing dairy, Robert Wiseman.

The Commission’s chairman, who held the casting vote, judged Wiseman to have operated in an anti-competitive way but, as less than two-thirds of the members of the group supported the conclusion, Byers was required to disregard the report in accordance with the Competition Act 1998. He did, however, call for the director general of fair trading to keep the market under close review with regard to potential infringements of the Act.

The inquiry followed allegations made last February by Claymore Dairies (a division of Express Dairies) of anti-competitive behaviour by Wiseman. In response to the ruling Alan Wiseman, chairman of Robert Wiseman Dairies, said: “We are pleased that after an exhaustive nine month inquiry no action is to be taken in relation to the company’s operations in Scotland.”