Britain has forced out the chair of its antitrust regulator after he failed to prioritise its growth agenda, replacing him with a former Amazon boss, in a sign Britain's attempt to rein in Big Tech could be over.
Marcus Bokkerink was replaced at the Competition and Markets Authority by Amazon's former boss in Britain, Doug Gurr, the government said. Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she needed someone aligned with her "strategic direction".
"He recognised it was time for him to move on and make way for somebody who does share the mission and the strategic direction that this government are taking," she told a Bloomberg event at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos.
Bokkerink's removal came a day after Donald Trump returned to the White House, vowing to cut regulation on sectors including tech as it races to develop Artificial Intelligence.
Some criticised the move as a shift to a lighter touch in Britain, where regulators have traditionally been unafraid to take on big companies to protect the interests of smaller firms and consumers.
"Now is the time to file your mergers with the CMA," said Tom Smith, competition lawyer at Geradin Partners and a former legal director at the regulator.
"The government is sending a clear signal that it wants the CMA to go easy on dealmakers."
Britain's Labour government, under pressure to reignite the economy after years of sluggish output, has said it wants regulators to "tear down the barriers hindering businesses" and focus on growth. But some have questioned whether an easing of competition rules would promote growth.
After he was ousted, Bokkerink said on LinkedIn that markets should not be held back "by a few powerful incumbents setting the rules for everyone else".
The CMA's last clash with a US tech giant was over Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard in 2023, and the regulator came off worse.
It blocked the deal but then tore up its own rule book to approve the case following a furious reaction from Microsoft bosses who lobbied the government at the highest level.
It did not block a single deal in 2024, and allowed two of Britain's four mobile networks to merge.
Supercharging growth
After being singled out by Prime Minister Keir Starmer for holding back growth, the CMA said in November that it would focus on "truly problematic mergers" and rethink its approach to allow more deals to go ahead.
An executive at a major British tech and media company said Bokkerink had been leading the growth charge.
The person, who asked not to be named, said there was real surprise over the choice of his replacement, raising the question of how much Big Tech had lobbied the government.
CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said Bokkerink had "tirelessly championed consumers, competition and a level playing field for business".
Competition lawyer Ian Giles at Norton Rose Fulbright said the CMA's mantra, echoed by government previously, had been that competition was good for growth and for business – and rules need to be enforced to support this objective.
The move "suggests that there may be a desire to rein in the CMA's more interventionist approach," he said, even at the cost of reduced rule enforcement.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said he wanted to see the CMA "supercharging the economy with pro-business decisions that will drive prosperity and growth, putting more money in people's pockets".
He said Gurr, appointed on an interim basis, would bring a "wealth of experience" in the technology sector.
The change comes as the CMA steps up its scrutiny of Big Tech through its digital markets unit.
The unit, which gained new powers this month, is tasked with ensuring that tech companies such as Amazon, Google, Meta, Apple and Microsoft do not abuse their dominant market positions.
Amazon, under Gurr's leadership, was investigated by the CMA over its stake in food delivery company Deliveroo. The regulator cleared the investment in 2020.
The CMA will imminently give its verdict on the cloud computing market, dominated by Amazon, Microsoft and to a lesser extent Google.
What does UK's Reeves' removal of a competition regulator mean for growth?
Here is an explanation of the decision to remove Marcus Bokkerink from the Competition and Markets Authority and replace him on an interim basis with Amazon's former boss in Britain, Doug Gurr.
Why has Reeves forced out the CMA chairman?
Reeves, under pressure to meet Prime Minister Keir Starmer's 2024 election promise of faster economic growth, last week told Britain's regulators they must come up with policies that do not place too big a burden on companies.
Competition lawyers said her move to replace the CMA chair told US tech firms and other investors that Britain was willing to approve big takeover deals that might previously have been rejected, a push that has been given new urgency by US President Donald Trump's purge of rules for business.
In 2023, the CMA blocked Microsoft's $69 billion purchase of video game company Activision Blizzard. Microsoft president Brad Smith said Britain was "bad for business", before the regulator backed down and approved the deal.
How does competition policy affect economic growth?
The role of competition watchdogs does not directly affect economic growth in the short term, which is more influenced by factors such as consumers' purchasing power and government spending.
But the decisions of regulators on mergers and ensuring competition in sectors such as technology, pharmaceuticals and retail send important signals to investors about the ease of doing business in an individual country and its attractiveness for investment, priorities for Britain's government.
What are the economic risks from allowing more deals?
Without takeover restrictions, some markets are likely to have too few businesses for effective competition, pushing up prices and reducing incentives for innovation.
The CMA has estimated that its merger decisions – for example, blocking a tie-up of supermarkets Sainsbury's and Asda – saved British consumers an average of £685 million (US$846 million) a year over the past three years.
Innovation is less likely when it is hard for smaller players to compete, though the CMA says highly fragmented markets make it harder for firms to finance investment too.
Sectors that rely on one or two suppliers can also lead to fragile supply chains, as shown by the 2021 shortage of chips used in the car industry.
What else is the government doing to boost growth?
Starmer promised voters his government would deliver the fastest economic growth in the Group of Seven rich economies. Just four days after July's election, Reeves set out plans to streamline planning rules that have slowed house building and infrastructure projects.
She also intends to increase public investment compared with the previous government's plans and has pressured financial regulators to do more to encourage growth.
However, a more than £25 billion tax increase for businesses announced in her October 30 budget appears to have weighed on the economy, in the short term at least, with firms scaling back hiring and investment plans.