Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds suggested the UK has too many regulators, as he called on the country’s under-fire competition watchdog to be “more agile”.
Reynolds hinted that ministers have been mulling a wider reshaping of Britain’s regulatory landscape, saying: “We have to ask the question: have we got the right number of regulators?”
His comments come as the government set out a much-anticipated mandate for the Competition and Markets Authority, the antitrust regulator whose chair was ousted by Reynolds last month.
Ministers want the CMA to be more focused on growth and supporting UK investment, and to “minimise uncertainty for business”, he said.
The government published its draft “strategic steer” for the CMA on Thursday, a document issued periodically that sets out what ministers want the agency to prioritise. Ministers made clear in the steer that the CMA must do more to contribute to UK economic growth.
“The government expects the CMA’s approach to clearly, and unambiguously, reflect the need to enhance the attractiveness of the UK as a destination for international investment,” the steer set out.
The steer also instructs the CMA to take into account the actions of other regulators globally “and, where appropriate, seek to ensure parallel regulatory action is timely, coherent and avoids duplication”.
The agency 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.
“This isn’t about meaningless platitudes, about the cutting of red tape,” Reynolds said in his speech at Samsung’s London headquarters on Thursday. “It’s about effective consumer protection, competition law and additional modern powers, so that we create a level playing field for businesses.”
The agency will cut the timelines on merger consultations in a bid to help businesses move quicker on deals, chief executive Sarah Cardell said on Thursday.
Cardell said that the regulator will aim to reduce the period that a company must wait before the regulator reviews a deal from 65 days to 40 days by June.
It will also change the target for reviewing mergers in straightforward cases from 35 days to 25 days.
“We know speed of decision making is vital to reduce uncertainty and costs for businesses,” said Cardell. “Given the vast majority of deals the CMA looks at ultimately end in clearance — either unconditionally or with remedies — we must move as quickly as possible to get to the right decisions.”
The strategic steer is open for consultation until March 6.
