UK Antitrust and Merger Control: Six Developments to Watch Out for in 2026

In this blog post, Steptoe’s Ronan Scanlan shares his insight into the United Kingdom’s 2025 antitrust “reset,” marked by leadership changes at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), a more permissive approach to mergers, and a lighter enforcement docket. While the CMA showed renewed confidence in consumer enforcement late in the year, overall levels of antitrust, cartel, and merger activity declined, prompting questions about whether enforcement restraint has gone too far.

Looking ahead to 2026, Scanlan addresses UK competition policy emphasizing domestic priorities, business engagement, regulatory certainty, and growth. This direction may result in a more accommodating merger regime, increased consolidation, and a greater likelihood of politically sensitive or “edge case” transactions, alongside possible government intervention in matters involving national champions.

Against this backdrop, Scanlan highlights several developments to watch closely, including the CMA’s next market investigation—expected to focus on private dentistry—and ongoing uncertainty around the future use of the UK’s new digital markets powers. With no new strategic market status investigations launched since early 2025, and heightened geopolitical sensitivities around regulating US technology firms, the scope and durability of the digital regime remain open questions.

The post also points to potential reforms to UK merger control, including changes to jurisdictional thresholds, greater use of bright-line tests, and reconsideration of the CMA’s internal decision-making structure. These reforms, alongside high-profile cases such as Getty Images / Shutterstock, will test the CMA’s commitment to predictability, proportionality, and alignment with international enforcement—making 2026 a pivotal year for UK competition policy…

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