Bottleneck Britain: How digital competition could power UK growth and sovereignty

These companies hold extraordinary control over the digital infrastructure we all rely on. They have earned much of their success and deserve to profit, but their success should not come at the expense of consumers paying higher prices or challenger firms being unable to scale their business. 

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 is a flexible, robust and proportionate tool for dealing with this. The last Conservative government enacted it to improve competition and growth. It lets the regulator – the Competition and Markets Authority – move fast on incumbents who abuse their market power, while leaving most businesses alone. The problem, then, is not the law but senior politicians’ lack of support for it. 

We recommend the UK government publishes an updated strategic steer for the CMA. This should clarify that proactive, rapid and bold enforcement is pro-growth. The priority should be reducing barriers to entry for competitors, not maximising inward investment from incumbents.