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ARTICLE · 25 MARCH 2026

Competition Regulator: Your New Friend?

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP
Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP
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Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP

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A year ago, few would have predicted the extent to which politics would have reshaped the antitrust regulatory landscape when it comes to merger control.

United KingdomAntitrust/Competition Law
Veronica Roberts
Veronica Roberts
Kyriakos Fountoukakos
Kyriakos Fountoukakos
John W. Elias
John W. Elias
Kristien Geeurickx
Kristien Geeurickx
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A year ago, few would have predicted the extent to which politics would have reshaped the antitrust regulatory landscape when it comes to merger control. 

Yet across the world, leadership changes and governments' growth agendas have pushed some of the leading agencies to adopt, or move towards adopting, a more business-friendly approach, resulting in many cases in a faster and more predictable approach, more flexible remedies and fewer prohibitions. Whether this is a lasting trend or just a cyclical shift is the question we should see answered during the course of 2026.

New leadership, new pressure

In the UK, the new Labour government removed the CMA's chair, Marcus Bokkerink, over concerns that the agency was failing to support and contribute to the government's pro-growth and pro-investment agenda.

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