The UK’s competition regulator must be “less risk averse”, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds will say on Thursday as he sets out a much-anticipated mandate for the watchdog after ousting its chair last month.
Ministers want the Competition and Markets Authority to be more focused on growth and supporting UK investment, while still seeking to prevent “genuine harms to UK-based consumers and businesses”, he will say.
The government will publish its draft “strategic steer” for the CMA on Thursday, a document issued periodically that sets out what ministers want the agency to prioritise. Ministers are expected to ask the watchdog to be “more agile”.
The CMA has been in the government’s crosshairs in recent months. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer singled out the agency last year when saying that regulators needed to do more to support the government’s growth mission. Frustration with the antitrust regulator led to the sudden ousting of its former chair, Marcus Bokkerink, last month, who was replaced by Amazon UK boss Doug Gurr.
The watchdog has been in particular focus as Labour has sought to appeal to businesses that complain about the CMA being too interventionist in deals.
“I want the regulator to focus its efforts on genuine harms to UK-based consumers and businesses, so they can promote trust and deter abuse,” Reynolds will say in his speech at Samsung’s London headquarters.
The CMA declined to comment.