Enterprise and Commerce Minister Max Bradford has accused Labour spokesman Paul Swain of crass hypocrisy after his comments about the sale of frequencies.

“Mr Swain has claimed Labour does not want the spectrum auction to go ahead because in Labour’s view, there are insufficient guarantees that true competition will prevail.

“Mr Swain is being disingenuous at best,” Mr Bradford said.

“If he had any real concerns about competition law, then Labour would have supported the proposed changes to the Commerce Act put forward by the Government barely two months ago.

“Not long after that, Labour did a copy cat and mirrored in its competition policy much the same proposals the Government had put forward.

“For Mr Swain to want to stop for at least six to nine months an auction which has fundamental implications for the development of the knowledge economy is just politicking of the worst order,” Mr Bradford said.

“The Labour party and the Alliance have played politics throughout this year with the development of effective competition law.

“Labour MPs opposed changes to the Commerce Act, which had received wide business sector and consumer group buy in.

“They have also opposed the modern regulatory framework proposed by the Government for the monopoly electricity lines companies, even though Labour now says it is in favour of regulation,” Mr Bradford said.

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