In his Autumn Statement 2022 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt MP, confirmed that the Government will bring forward the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill in the third Parliamentary session to provide the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) with new powers to promote and tackle anti-competitive practice in digital markets. In his speech to the House of Commons, Mr Hunt said:

“The second lesson of Nigel Lawson’s Big Bang is that the most important driver of global success is not tax subsidies but competition.

So we will legislate to give the Digital Markets Unit new powers to challenge monopolies and increase the competitive pressure to innovate”.

In the Autumn Statement, as part of plans for “supply side growth”, the Government states that opening digital markets to greater competition will encourage new challenger firms, spur innovation, and provide consumers with higher quality products and greater choice.

The legislation would put the Digital Markets Unit (DMU) within the CMA on a statutory footing. The DMU will have powers to foster more competitive digital markets, make changes to the competition framework that will include streamlined decision making and updating merger and fine thresholds, and protect consumers in fast-moving markets by tackling “subscription traps” and fake reviews online. To read the Autumn Statement 2022, click here.