Antitrust lawyers have questioned ministers’ “extraordinary” decision to force out the chairman of the UK’s competition watchdog, suggesting it could have a “chilling” effect on other UK regulators.
The government confirmed this Departure of Marcus Bokkerink as chairman of the Competition and Markets Authority on Tuesday evening after the Financial Times reported that Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds had intervened.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves implicitly criticized Bokkerink in an interview with Bloomberg in Davos on Tuesday: “He recognized that it was time for him to move on and make room for someone who shares the mission and strategic direction of this government.”
This month, ministers ordered 17 of Britain’s biggest regulators to set out how they will help boost the UK’s economic growth. But a number of lawyers and lobbyists said Bokkerink’s resignation came out of the blue.
“To be honest, it was a bit of a surprise,” said one business lobbyist. “We have had many discussions with the CMA. . . and they seemed to really get it and make changes.”
An antitrust lawyer at a London firm said the move would have a “chilling and intimidating effect” on independent regulators across the country.
“Although it appears reassuring for the economy in the short term, when competition policy is left at the mercy of political fads, it becomes less stable and predictable, undermining business confidence,” they said.
“It is an extraordinary step by the government to intervene so heavily in a competition authority,” they added.
Bokkerink’s departure raises questions about whether ministers are prioritizing the demands of big business over competing priorities such as consumer rights and the environment.
The government has appointed Doug Gurr, who led Amazon’s UK business during the company’s dispute with the British firm, as the CMA’s new interim chairman CMA over its minority stake in Deliveroo, which the regulator finally approved in 2020.
One person said the forced exit seemed like a “desperate move by a struggling government” trying to regain popularity with business leaders after imposing additional regulations and taxes on companies last year budget.
The move has also led to speculation about the fate of CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell and whether she could also be replaced.
Andrew Griffith, shadow business secretary, said in the House of Commons on Wednesday that the Conservative party wanted regulatory reform so that companies “have less deadweight loss”.
“But the sacking of the CMA’s part-time non-executive chair seems an odd start,” he told the House of Commons. “He is not responsible for day-to-day decision-making at the CMA. That is the job of the CEO. Did they aim and miss?”
Cardell has gone to great lengths in recent weeks to emphasize that the regulator is taking the government’s growth mandate seriously. In November, Cardell told the FT that the agency was planning one Review of its merger remediesThis signals that more mergers could be approved based on commitments such as price freezes, rather than forcing asset divestitures.
A person familiar with the matter said Cardell had had “positive discussions” about her role with ministers since Bokkerink’s resignation.
Max von Thun, Europe director at the Open Markets Institute, said the CMA was at the forefront of global efforts to tackle increasing market concentration, particularly in the “monopolistic” technology sector.
“The administration’s decision to replace the agency’s chairman with a former Amazon executive at a time when a handful of U.S. tech giants are tightening their control over the future of artificial intelligence is a major strategic mistake,” he said .
Lawyers and competition specialists noted that Clare Barclay, until recently head of Microsoft UK and now in another senior position at the company, chairs the government’s new Industrial Strategy Advisory Council.
In a two-page statement released Tuesday evening, Bokkerink said he had helped refocus the CMA to ensure it “promotes consumer empowerment and effective competition – rather than being held back by a few powerful incumbents.” “that set the rules for everyone else.”
Business groups welcomed the government’s intervention. Craig Beaumont, chief executive of the Federation of Small Businesses, said he hoped the CMA “will now do more for growth”, while Stephen Phipson, head of manufacturing lobby group Make UK, praised ministers’ efforts to regulate to make it “functional”. .
One banker said the CMA had been seen as an obstacle and that Bokkerink’s ouster could be a way to send a message to the regulator’s staff.
His exit comes as the CMA has been given new powers to regulate digital markets.
It announced last week that Google would be the first company the regulator would examine to decide whether the tech giant warrants special market status given its position in search services, which could result in it being bound by stricter conduct rules.
The government will provide the CMA with a “strategic guide” in the coming weeks setting out its priorities for the regulator. But beyond the regulator’s desire to focus on growth, it is unclear what Labor actually wants from the CMA, lawyers said.
“The government is clearly unhappy with the CMA but appears to have no concrete view on what is going wrong,” said a senior antitrust lawyer.
Additional reporting by Ivan Levingston
