He became retail director in 1993 and was then promoted to head of marketing for the Next brand.Speaking about his appointment Mr Wolfson said: “My age is not the issue. The question is am I competent to do the job?” He said shareholders should have confidence in him as he had been doing the job for a year and a half and had introduced several successful changes.Mr Jones said: “Next is my life. There is no way I would have made the appointment if I had thought it would jeopardise the business in any way.”Next shares jumped 26p to a high of 720p yesterday on an upbeat trading statement. Next said the performance in the first 14 weeks was in line with the last statement which showed that sales in Next retail were 19 per cent ahead of last year.. The EMU spotlight shifted from French elections to German gold this week, after apparent moves by Germany to use its reserves to fudge the size of an embarrassingly large deficit. Mr Jones’s explanation of Mr Wolfson’s contribution to the Next success story satisfied most shareholders and Mr Wolfson’s appointment was passed without opposition.However, Ms Mastriforte remained unimpressed.

After the meeting she said: “I’m very angry about his son being on the board He has never worked outside Next. At 29 he doesn’t know enough to be a main board director.”If daddy didn’t have 100,000 shares in the company, would he have got this leg up?”It [Mr Wolfson's appointment] is not doing the boy any good. He will never know how much of his success is due to his father. Clare Spottiswoode, the gas regulator, has already hinted she may follow Mr McIldoon’s lead if the MMC proposes a lenient price regime for British Gas’s pipeline business.Competition lawyers welcomed the development yesterday which they said would clarify the vexed relationship between regulators and the MMC.The planned competition billis intended to toughen the law on cartels and abuses of market power, shifting the UK’s regime towards the prohibitive system used on the Continent..

Next’s decision to appoint the 29-year-old son of Lord Wolfson, chairman, to its main board was questioned at the fashion retailer’s annual meeting yesterday. One shareholder asked for more information on the business experience of Mr Wolfson, who has only six years’ business experience and has never worked outside the company. Sue Mastriforte, a long-standing Next shareholder, asked Lord Wolfson: “Perhaps you could tell us about the experience Simon has. It was the first time a utility regulator has threatened formally to override the MMC’s advice.
Douglas McIldoon, the regulator, was unhappy with the MMC’s conclusions on depreciation policy for Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE).

Mr McIldoon wanted to cut NIE’s revenues by 33 per cent from this year, but the MMC concluded the cut should be 28 per cent. NIE has threatened to take the regulator to the High Court if he refuses to implement the MMC’s more lenient recommendations.The DTI is keen to move swiftly on the issue because of the potential for further regulatory rows. It would mean including provisions in the bill overriding the existing acts of parliament which privatised the electricity, water and gas industries. The Department of Trade and Industry is understood to be concerned with the recent decision by the electricity watchdog for Northern Ireland to reject a price regime recommended by the MMC. This would have allowed it to ring-fence services such as Royal Mail letter delivery, ensuring that the Post Office continued to provide a service to every address in the country at a uniform price.. The controversial power of utility regulators to overrule the Monopolies & Mergers Commission could be curtailed in the Government’s planned competition bill, a move which could have widespread implications in the row over price controls for British Gas’s pipeline network and other privatised groups.

One involved the sale of a 49 per cent stake, the other a 51 per cent sale but with the Government retaining a golden share. This year its EFL contribution will be pounds 317m.Before the election Post Office chiefs discussed two options for the privatisation of the organisation with senior Labour figures. At present the Post Office pays virtually all its profits back to the Exchequer through corporation tax and its contribution to the External Finance Limit (EFL). One option might be to convert it into a 100 per cent government-owned company which would free it from the Public Sector Borrowing Requirement. “This opens the door to discussions about a whole range of things which were not available under the previous government because for them it was privatisation or nothing,” said one Post executive.One difficulty ministers may face is how to deliver on the promise of commercial freedom while the Post Office remains in public ownership. The remainder of the 19,300-strong network are privately run sub post offices.The Post Office nevertheless welcomed Mr McCartney’s announcement, particularly the commitment to examine all options. The number of Crown post offices has fallen from 1,500 10 years ago to just 600 now.