Confirmation Of CMA Permanent Chair Highlights The Political Tightrope It Is Currently Walking

On 27 February 2026, Doug Gurr was confirmed as the permanent Chair of the CMA, for a five-year term. This followed the publication of a pre-appointment report and a hearing before the House of Commons Business and Trade Committee (BTC), which – whilst ultimately providing its blessing – nevertheless had reservations about the appointment and expressed some concerns about the CMA’s current approach to enforcement.

The permanent appointment of Doug Gurr caps a period of strategic inflexion at the CMA, which began in January 2025 following the departure of the previous Chair, Marcus Bokkerink – widely believed to have been forced to resign as a result of Government concerns that the CMA’s enforcement policy had become too interventionist and risked undermining business and investor confidence.

The Government’s new “Strategic Steer” signalled a change of direction and called on the CMA to support its “overriding national priority of… economic growth”. This encouraged the CMA to pursue a “4Ps” transformation programme (aimed at improving the pace, predictability, proportionality and process of CMA enforcement), and saw the CMA publish a new three-year Strategy for 2026-29, focusing on five key objectives – including “fostering a UK regulatory landscape that attracts investment and instils business confidence”¹.

Concerns flagged by the BTC

The BTC’s report emphasised the importance of the CMA in tackling some of the most pressing challenges faced by the UK economy: weakening market competition; a cost-of-living crisis; and risks from oligopolistic businesses, particularly in digital markets. At the same time, however, the BTC (particularly at the oral hearing) questioned the CMA’s ability to rise to these challenges, raising concerns in particular around:

• the deterioration of the UK’s competitive dynamics (in the form of rising levels of market concentration and mark-ups, and falling business entry and exit rates) despite the CMA’s staff nearly doubling in the last 10 years;
• the CMA’s ability to act independently from Government, given the abrupt resignation of Doug Gurr’s predecessor, his replacement with a “potentially pro-growth candidate from a big company background”, and the recently announced move to abolish the independent CMA panel that determines Phase 2 mergers and markets cases;
• the risk of the CMA seeking to “prioritise investment, even if it delivers market consolidation, rather than improving consumer welfare” – noting that “over the last year, the CMA has vetoed zero mergers²… the first time that has happened since 2017”;
• possible conflicts of interest in view of Gurr’s former executive role at Amazon;
• a perception that the CMA has been slow to open market investigations, in the face of rising prices for consumers;
• the CMA’s circumspection in using the powers granted to it under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA); and
• the CMA’s ability to maintain the pace of its investigations in the face of budgetary restraints requiring staff reductions, and reports of declining staff morale.

Summarising the BTC’s concerns, its Chair stated “growth cannot mean greater concentration. Investment cannot come at the expense of consumer welfare. And operational independence must be protected in fact, not just in theory. If the CMA is to rebuild trust, it must use its new powers rigorously, stand up to pressure where necessary, and put competition and consumers first – every time.”

The BTC therefore recommended several risk mitigation measures to Ministers, including that they:

• underline in the Strategic Steer that the CMA’s pursuit of growth must not risk market concentration that diminishes levels of competition or damages consumers;
• reaffirm the need for the CMA’s operational independence in individual decisions;
• make clear that the Government expects rigorous implementation of the CMA’s new powers under the DMCCA; and
• consider requiring Gurr to recuse himself from any decision regarding designating Amazon with Strategic Market Status (SMS).

These recommendations are not binding (and indeed since a Strategic Steer is generally only issued once per Parliament, there is little prospect of the current one being amended). Nevertheless, Gurr has reportedly since recused himself from any decision by the CMA to launch an SMS investigation into Amazon. 

Are the BTC’s concerns warranted? 

The CMA’s enforcement record since the start of 2025 shows that the BTC’s concerns are not entirely unfounded. 

In the digital markets space in particular, several investigations have faced significant delays. In addition, some of the CMA’s interventions have proved narrower in scope and less robust than many initially expected. While Google’s general search business and Google and Apple’s respective mobile platforms were designated as having SMS, in respect of the latter the CMA is so far proposing to accept informal commitments by the platforms instead of imposing legally binding conduct requirements. Gurr defended this at the BTC hearing, noting that “the beauty of the regime… is that it is outcomes-based” and explaining that the CMA had opted for commitments in the interests of expediency, but reserves the right to escalate and take more stringent measures if Google and Apple fail to deliver. 

A recent Freedom of Information Act request also revealed that the CMA has not, as originally planned, scaled up the Digital Markets Unit (which implements the digital markets regime) to 200 dedicated staff. The relevant headcount has instead decreased by 16%, to 62 employees, since the regime came into force in January 2025, putting a question mark over the CMA’s ability to ensure effective enforcement of the regime. 

Recent merger outcomes also reveal a historically low rate of intervention. The current financial year has seen fewer Phase 1 cases opened than in any other since the dawn of the current mergers regime, as well as near record-low numbers of Phase 2 referrals and undertakings-in-lieu of reference. During the hearing, Gurr sought to justify these figures on the basis that “the vast majority of mergers do not cause concerns”. He also noted that the CMA had blocked only one merger in 2024, none in 2025, and one in 2026 thus far. 

On the other hand, the recently announced investigation into suspected anti-competitive information exchanges in the hotels sector via a data analytics tool demonstrates that the CMA is following through on its stated intention to pursue novel forms of antitrust infringements (particularly those involving new technology). In addition, the CMA’s recently-launched market study on private dentistry and consumer protection investigation into Adobe’s early cancellation fees suggest that the CMA is taking its 2026-2029 strategic objective of championing consumers seriously. And the CMA has been quick to react – in a high-profile way – to current geopolitical challenges, opening a consumer enforcement investigation into price increases by heating oil suppliers in Northern Ireland. It has also made it clear that it will respond swiftly to evidence of price-gouging across other areas of the economy.

What is the CMA saying? 

In a speech delivered around the same time as the BTC hearing, CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell confirmed that the CMA is “doing things differently” – pursuing “not competition for its own sake, but in service of national priorities”, in response to political imperatives. She also endorsed the CMA’s expanding role in improving public procurement outcomes and as an adviser to Government more broadly. 

These themes were echoed in Gurr’s oral evidence before the BTC. He emphasised the CMA’s position as an “across-the-economy” regulator, pointing to the advisory letters issued to 100 businesses and eight investigations launched as part of the CMA’s initial consumer protection drive, in a number of consumer-facing sectors, in November 2025. He also pointed to the role the CMA is aiming to play with respect to the intersection of regulation and competition, including the challenges faced by UK companies in scaling up. On resources, Gurr acknowledged the fiscal constraints on the CMA. Nonetheless, he underlined the CMA’s commitment to organisational transformation, praising the CMA’s “impressive, capable AI team” and the sophisticated tools at the CMA’s disposal.

Where will the CMA go from here? 

The concerns raised during the appointment process suggest a growing political unease about the less robust, and more pragmatic and business-friendly, enforcement policy currently being pursued by the CMA. Consequently, the possibility of further changes in policy before the end of the current Parliament cannot be ruled out – especially given the increasing political focus on economic competition and the prospect of further inflationary pressures due to recent geopolitical events. 

Policy aside, further procedural changes appear very likely following the Department of Business and Trade’s (DBT) consultation on refining the UK’s competition regime. The CMA published a positive response to the consultation on 10 March 2026, endorsing most of the DBT’s proposals (aside from the suggestion that ministerial approval be required for changes to the CMA’s main guidance documents).

In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how the CMA balances the various competing interests it faces: its statutory mandate to promote competition and protect consumers; the Government’s growth agenda; the BTC’s (and the UK Parliament’s) expectations; and pressure to follow through and deliver on the promises of the new digital markets competition regime.

Footnotes

1. The others being: promoting effective competition; championing consumers; helping government deploy tailored pro-competition interventions to support growth, innovation and investment-related policies; and prioritising UK interests.

2. However, the CMA in fact prohibited Ararmark’s acquisition of Entier in January 2026, and in September 2025 issued a remittal decision confirming its 2024 prohibition of Spreadex’s acquisition of Sporting Index.

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