FORMER Tesco man Andrew Higginson is set to be the next chairman of Bradford-based supermarket Morrisons as it battles to stem falling market share with £1billion of price cuts.

He will succeed Sir Ian Gibson, who announced he would stand down in 2015 at this year's annual general meeting in June - where he apologised to shareholders for Morrisons poor 2013 performance when it slumped to a £176 million loss .

Andrew Higginson will join Morrisons board on October 1 as non-executive deputy chairman and chairman elect. he was a main board director of Tesco for 15 years until 2012.

Sir Ian Gibson said: "Andy Higginson has a tremendous reputation and a distinguished career at the forefront of retailing in the UK and I am sure he will be a huge asset to Morrisons. I am very pleased to welcome him to the board as deputy chairman and look forward to working with him to ensure a smooth transition to the chairman role."