Overview
- Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle put forward Gurr, setting him up for a five-year term leading the UK competition regulator.
- Doug Gurr has served as interim CMA chair since early 2025, working with CEO Sarah Cardell to speed and standardise merger reviews.
- Gurr will face scrutiny from Parliament’s Business and Trade Select Committee in a session that cannot veto the appointment.
- The move comes alongside a government consultation to accelerate merger clearances, including a plan to replace independent adjudicators with CMA board members.
- Data show the CMA cleared 36 mergers in 2025 with no outright blocks since 2017, a shift hailed by pro-growth advocates and questioned by critics concerned about big tech oversight.