Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed merger between Three UK and Vodafone on (a) mobile phone and (b) broadband costs.

On June 14, Vodafone and Three announced their intentions to merge their UK businesses. As an open economy, we welcome investment where it supports UK growth and jobs, meets our stringent legal and regulatory requirements, and does not compromise our national security. We will not hesitate to use our powers, under the National Security and Investment Act, to protect national security if we identify concerns.

The Government does not have a role in the review of mergers on competition grounds. It is the responsibility of Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to assess the impact on consumers and competition in the market, with input from sectoral regulators - in this case Ofcom.

At present Vodafone UK have not announced any job cuts in relation to the merger. On 16 May, Vodafone Group, which operates across 21 countries, announced its annual financial results and strategy to improve performance. The announcement included an indication that Vodafone Group plans to cut 11,000 jobs globally over 3 years. Any redundancies are a commercial decision for Vodafone Group.