UK competition regulator will make investigations ‘rapid’, says new chair | Competition and Markets Authority

The new chair of the UK’s competition regulator has promised to make its investigations into mergers and takeovers “simple and rapid”, after government pressure for regulators to do more to support its economic growth agenda.

Doug Gurr, the former Amazon UK boss who was announced as chair of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) earlier this month, said that a regulatory environment that encouraged the “greatest possible level of business investment” would be the agency’s new “north star”.

Gurr replaced former chair Marcus Bokkerink, who was ousted by ministers, days after the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, called the chief executives of UK regulators including the CMA to a meeting at No 11 to pressure them to do more to support growth.

The CMA, which has just launched an investigation into Google, had previously been heavily criticised by Microsoft for the lengthy delay in approving its £56bn acquisition of the games company Activision.

“We know it costs businesses when they have to deal with lengthy and uncertain investigations,” said Gurr, writing in the Financial Times. “Good decisions, clear decisions, rapid decisions, that’s what you tell us you need and that’s on us to deliver.”

Gurr has been appointed as the interim chair of the CMA, which aims to cut 10% of staff, for up to 18 months after the abrupt departure of Bokkerink.

His appointment was criticised by the GMB union and campaigners last week. Andy Prendergast, GMB’s national secretary, said the appointment of the former Amazon UK boss to a “body intended to combat unfair market monopolies is a slap in the face to workers”.

“Last year, the UK again delivered the lowest level of business investment in the G7,” Gurr wrote. “This has been true for far too long. We want both domestic and international businesses to see the UK as a great place to invest. This means giving startups and venture backers the confidence to launch their businesses here, not elsewhere in the world.”

Gurr, 60, was born in Leeds to New Zealander parents, grew up partly in Kenya and went to the University of Cambridge. He began his career as a maths teacher in Denmark before taking a number of civil service roles under John Major’s government.

He spent six years at the consultancy McKinsey and was later development director for Asda, when it was owned by the US retailer Walmart, before joining Amazon in 2011. He ran the group’s business in China, commuting from his home in Yorkshire, before running Amazon’s UK arm for four years from 2016.