CI Traders boss Martin Bralsford has called for the new Competition Law to be suspended.

The chief executive of the group which controversially took over Safeway on the eve of the law coming into force earlier this year believes that Jersey’s economy flourished without it and can continue to do so.

He even told business leaders at an Institute of Directors lunch that the law could be counter-productive and that companies could be less socially responsive in future because the States had changed the nature of the business environment.

By shifting to a ‘rules-based’ system instead of allowing business to regulate its own activities, the Island risked firms operating at the edges of the law rather than with community spirit.

And he said the States should suspend the law to allow further debate.

But his comments have been described as extraordinary by Senator Philip Ozouf, one of the architects of the law and the man tipped to be Economic Development Minister in a Frank Walker Council of Ministers.

He also happened to be in the audience to hear Mr Bralsford’s speech.