On 20 January, the UK Government announced a consultation on planned reforms to the UK’s merger and markets regime. Key proposed changes include narrowing certain jurisdictional thresholds, centralising Phase II decision-making within the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) Board through removal of the Phase II independent panel (CMA Panel), and the introduction of a new “single-phase” market investigation review process.

Whilst reform may be welcome to businesses in some respects, the proposals are likely to further centralise decision-making power within the CMA, as well as increasing the oversight of Government in the administration of key aspects of the UK’s antitrust regime. For merger decisions in particular, the removal of the CMA Panel, combined with the Government’s commitment to retain the judicial review standard of appeal, may reignite calls for a full merits review standard to be introduced alongside the proposed reforms.

Why now? 

Having gained a reputation for taking bold stances on global mergers with arguably limited nexus to the UK (e.g., Facebook/Giphy and Sabre/Farelogix), the CMA has sometimes been accused of deterring some transactional investments in the UK economy. As part of a wider Regulatory Action Plan, the Government in January 2025 replaced the incumbent CMA Chair, Marcus Bokkerink, with Doug Gurr (formerly a global VP and the head of Amazon UK). The Government also committed to reviewing and narrowing the UK’s notoriously broad jurisdictional thresholds under the Enterprise Act 2002.

A resulting flurry of activity has already seen the CMA prioritising cases that have a direct impact on UK consumers or businesses; adopting a more neutral stance towards behavioural remedies in suitable cases; and promising to increase the pace, predictability, and proportionality (the “4Ps”) of its enforcement activities, in particular for merger reviews.  

The proposed reforms consolidate and entrench this direction of travel.