According to the NFRN, from Monday (March 13) weekday editions of the Daily Mirror will increase from 65p to 70p but retail terms will be cut by 0.9 per cent. In Scotland, the price of the Mirror from Monday to Friday will rise to 75p. The price of the Saturday edition, including Scotland, will rise by 10p to £1.10 but the retail margin will reduce by 0.4 per cent.
In response, NFRN Chief Executive Paul Baxter said: “By acting in this way, Trinity Mirror is displaying nothing but total contempt for retailers who it obviously views as little more than cash cows that exist to be repeatedly milked.
“Only a few months ago, a senior member of Trinity Mirror's management attended a meeting of the NFRN’s National Executive Committee, when he heard first hand of the intense pressures that news retailers are operating under and how they too face the same challenges posed by the National Minimum Wage. The last cover price change was so paltry the amount offered did not cover the 7.4% increase in the NMW last year yet the same has happened again.
“In calling for a new market investigation, we will be leaving the CMA in no doubt that unfair practices continue to exist in the newspaper industry and that retailers have no option but to purchase goods from a fixed supplier in a fixed price market, where only certain sectors have any protection.”
Mr Baxter said that the NFRN would be writing to Trinity Mirror Chief Executive Simon Fox and the company’s shareholders to express its disquiet.
