Revising Monopoly Laws in the UK

 I'd like to pose a question concerning the state of our Economy in the UK:

Should we amend our Monopoly laws to allow businesses to grow larger than they are currently permitted?

Case in point: Tesco.  For anyone who does not know [where have you been living? Seriously?] Tesco is a Grocery Store - more than that it has many divisions and sells everything including the kitchen sink.  Anyway, Tesco is severely restricted in terms of Growth in the UK because it has hit a barrier that is imposed by our legal system.  We have a set of legal protections called Monopoly Laws - in a nut shell these prevent one company from establishing a far too great a stake in any given market.

I would propose that these laws be relaxed somewhat.  I know that most of these laws are in place to prevent a business from abusing its position but I believe similar precautions can be made to prevent this that don't prevent the expansion of these businesses - in other words release the limits on size and create other methods of monitoring and auditing the business practices of these organisations as well as increasing the fines that can be levied on these businesses for abuse of their positions.

I love independent retailers as much as the next person but I can't help but think of this in terms of raw figures:  If an independent retailer employs 200 people in the local area and a large corporation such as Tesco wants to open a super store in the area bringing 2,000 jobs, I can't help but feel the Independent store should be sacrificed in order to produce a net gain of 1,800 jobs for the local area - not only that but the construction of the store itself would create jobs too.

If independent stores value customer loyalty and believe in local traditions and local produce then they should have nothing to fear from a large store opening in the area - it should be the public who decide their loyalties and after all, if customers flock to the large store in the end that only proves the independent store's prices and produce was inferior to that which the larger chain offers.  You can argue that independent stores can't always compete in price wars - but really what justification is this argument for denying the large chain a presence in the area?  Ultimately is the Independent store with its presence and pricing not holding a Monopoly of its own albeit on a smaller scale?

No-one has ever forced someone to shop at a large chain instead of an independent.  People choose where they want to shop and if they opt for the cheaper store whichever that may be it is because the other store's prices are not delivering the value for money the consumer wants.

So if any politician or anyone with influence should read this, or even someone who can perform some maths and evaluate whether or not this idea would have any degree of impact on our economy I would be eternally grateful if you were to take the time to do so.