THE Government has taken its time - almost a year, in fact - but it has come up with the right answer to the question of who should win the battle for the Safeway supermarket business.

Although Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt is not empowered to say Morrisons should win the takeover battle, her elimination of Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury's from the bidding process amounts to the same thing. And rightly so.

The prospect of the Safeway empire being carved up by the big three chains would have marginalised the much smaller Morrisons chain. Now we have the prospect of consumers benefiting from competition between four big players.

The constraints placed on Morrisons will bring particular benefits to supermarket users in Darlington, where Morrisons' virtually stranglehold will be broken through it having to dispose of the two Safeway stores it is likely to acquire - to Tesco or Sainsbury's. Three of the four majors will then be represented in the town.

In Northallerton, Morrisons' arrival will give Tesco some sharper competition and there will be greater variety for shoppers in Guisborough, Ripon, Redcar and Ingleby Barwick where, because a Morrisons store is nearby, existing Safeway stores will have to sold to one of the other big chains.

All in all, a Morrisons takeover of Safeway is the least worst of the alternatives on offer. It avoids national domination of the market by Asda (owned by US giant Walmart) and in this part of the world offers Sainsbury and Tesco the opportunity to increase their presence and offer shoppers greater variety.