Communities secretary Eric Pickles said the government had clamped down on the overuse and abuse of surveillance powers by town halls.

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The Institute for Justice, a nonprofit, public-interest-group law firm, recently released a report, "Public Power, Private Gain, " that documents how extensive the abuse of condemnation powers has become.

FORBES: Fact and Comment

Yes, the commission has very tough powers over the abuse of monopoly positions: similarly over collusion to create oligopolies.

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It called for "safeguards" over the new powers to prevent abuse and accused the government of producing estimates of the cost of implementing the plans which were not "robust" enough.

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First, the Tory paper is vague about what will happen to the FSA's oversight of regulated markets and listed companies, and its powers to investigate market abuse and insider trading.

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Ofgem also said it had "received information" and added that it would "consider carefully any evidence of market abuse that is brought to our attention as well as scope for action under all our other powers".

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