'Priority on Economic Growth' UK Government Dismisses Head of Competition Authority

Foreign media reported that the UK Labour government dismissed the head of the antitrust competition authority to signal that economic growth is its top priority.

Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Yonhap News

According to major foreign media including Bloomberg on the 22nd (local time), the UK government announced the day before that Marcus Bokering, the permanent chairman of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), resigned and Doug Gu, former head of Amazon UK, will serve as interim chairman. Doug Gu worked at Amazon for 10 years until 2020, including two years as head of Amazon China.

Bokering, who was appointed chairman for a five-year term under the previous Conservative government in 2022, stepped down early. Government sources said this was because the CMA failed to align with the Labour government’s policy of prioritizing economic growth, which was set as the top agenda since the CMA’s launch in July last year.

Since taking office, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has declared a growth-centered national administration and pledged deregulation, instructing major regulatory agencies to report measures to ease corporate burdens and promote growth.

The CMA stated it would focus on "mergers and acquisitions that truly pose problems" and approach corporate transactions to support the government’s growth policy, but it is reported that it was deemed to have fallen short of the Starmer administration’s expectations.

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