Centre for European Reform

Zach Meyers, from the Centre for European Reform, said the CMA had “made a lot of mistakes and seemed to be fumbling their way through” the case. However, he said the concession extracted by the CMA has helped “send a message” to the tech sector.

“The UK had a bit of bad luck after Brexit in a series of crises,” said John Springford, director of the Centre for European Reform in London. The country’s economy has suffered permanent damage from Brexit, which increased trade friction with the nation’s biggest trade partner, and the ensuing turmoil, but renewed business investment in recent quarters also shows the UK is often underestimated, he said. 

Zach Meyers, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, says there is “global uncertainty” now in the merger space. “I’m not sure the CMA is really more unpredictable than others, but [due to the appeals system] it has bigger teeth,” he says. “It throws up the question as to whether the current system is viable, given the geopolitical blocs that are forming,” says a seasoned Brussels lobbyist, referring to the outsized influence of US, EU, UK and Chinese regulators.

John Springford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank, added: “‘Some bolt-ons to the EU-UK trade deal would help some sectors, like agriculture. “But they wouldn’t change the problem: a free trade agreement is much less effective than a single market and customs union. Starmer says he wants a closer EU relationship to improve growth, but his red lines on the EU make it very hard to achieve that.”