The head of the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said that, going forward, the regulator will interfere in fewer global deals than it has done in previous years.

Sarah Cardell, current CMA chief executive told an antitrust conference in London on Thursday: “I think at the margins there will be perhaps a handful of global deals that we would have looked at previously that perhaps we decide we don’t need to look at.”

However, she insisted that the policy change does not and should not mean it will be an “open season” for mergers that ultimately harm consumers in the UK.

Government pressure

Her latest remarks are yet another sign that the regulator might be giving in to the growing pressure from the UK government in recent months to prioritise economic growth.

In February she told The Guardian in an interview the CMA would, from now on, take a more “tailored proportionate approach rather than a default approach” when looking into global financial deals.

Some of her remarks were, perhaps, also aimed at audiences across the Atlantic, as she said she would try to “engage” with US tech giants, in a clear attempt to build bridges. The UK regulator is currently investigating whether firms such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Apple are abusing their market dominance in certain sectors in the UK.

But relations have not been at their best in recent years, and the CMA specifically has been involved in stand-off of global financial significance.

For example, in August 2023, it stopped Microsoft from acquiring an interest in Activision Blizzard for 10 years without prior consent from the regulator. That deal, reportedly worth $68.7 billion, eventually went through.

Strategic steer

The CMA and other UK regulators have faced constant criticism and pressure from the UK government and the industry in recent months. And last month, the government announced its new Draft Strategic Steer to the CMA, asking the competition watchdog to:

• use its tools proportionately, with growth and investment in mind;
• minimize uncertainty by engaging with those affected by the CMA’s work, and report on impact of work;
• engage and work with the government on key issues.

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds also hinted that ministers are discussing behind the scenes plans about reshaping the country’s regulatory landscape.

Those remarks were followed by reports that chancellor Rachel Reeves wanted to carry out a government audit of the country’s 130 regulators, covering sectors from financial services to fisheries, to assess their need and, potentially, get rid of some of them.

The stand-off has already seen some major casualties. In January, senior ministers forced the CMA chair Marcus Bokkerink to step down for having ‘a different strategic approach to growth.”

Those harsh decisions now seem to have finally delivered the government’s message. Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds recently said the CMA had taken significant steps towards adopting its pro-growth approach.