UK Antitrust And Merger Control: Six Developments To Watch Out For In 2026

2025 was the year of a hard "reset" in the United Kingdom antitrust arena, starting with the sacking of the UK Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA) Chair in January, accepting of remedies in an unprecedented approval of a 4:3 telecoms merger (Vodafone / Three) in March, a voluntary settlement in a cartel case (the Homebuilders Investigation) in July, the closure of a three-year investigation (into Cloud Services) also in July and more new guidance documents than you could shake a stick at. By the end the CMA had found some renewed swagger in the consumer enforcement space, announcing eight new investigations in late December. However, by the close, the antitrust, cartel and merger dockets remained significantly lighter than in recent years, causing some to question whether the pendulum had swung too far in the other direction.