The head of Waitrose launched a scathing attack on Tesco yesterday, accusing its rival of being anticompetitive and of using its financial might to stamp out rivals.

Mark Price, the managing director of Waitrose, said that the Competition Commission — which next month reports the results of an inquiry into supermarkets — must take action to stop Britain turning into “Tescoland”.

Mr Price said that if Tesco’s growth went unchecked, there could be only Tesco and Asda left in the market within a quarter of a century.

“The commission needs to realise what is happening,” he said. “They are so aggressive and will buy everything to keep out the competition.”

Mr Price said that Tesco, the UK’s dominant supermarket group with a 31.7 per cent market share, claims that customers are opting to shop there, but that in reality consumers are motivated by easy access. “If there is a Tesco on every corner, that is where they will go,” he said.

He claimed that rival supermarkets’ efforts to snap up sites were failing because of Tesco’s vast reserves and that smaller players were suffering because of Tesco selling below cost.

“Tesco says it doesn’t underprice, but they put millions into their offers and bombard people with them and that is how they stamp out competition,” he said.

A spokesman for Tesco said:

“Waitrose should know full well it is a very competitive market out there. More than 94 per cent of the population has access to three or more supermarkets. There is plenty of choice out there and we are confident the Competition Commission will find that in its inquiry.”

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