Competition | UK Regulatory Outlook May 2026

Merger control 

The European Commission launched a public consultation, which is open for comments until 26 June, on its updated merger guidelines, published on 30 April 2026.  

Its draft merger guidelines, which significantly overhaul the current EU merger control guidelines, are intended to "support companies to thrive, scale, and innovate" according to President Ursula von der Leyen. Their focus is on modernising the way mergers are assessed to provide more focus on industrial scale and global competitiveness alongside innovation and investment. Additionally, sustainability and resilience are accepted to be more relevant in competitive assessments. While some commentators have speculated that one of the motivations behind the updated guidelines is the promotion of "European champions", the head of the Commission's competition directorate has stated that the guidelines’ “founding purpose remains unchanged: protecting strong, competitive markets without allowing an accumulation of power that can be abused". 

Subject to the outcome of the public consultation, the updated merger guidelines are expected to be adopted by the end of this year. 

Separately, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published a blog evaluating the first year of operating under its mergers charter. The charter outlined a commitment to pace, predictability, proportionality and process (often referred to as the 4Ps). The blog states that the CMA has received "very positive" feedback about its new processes and practices, which were introduced to deliver on its "4Ps" commitments as well as noting that the positive engagement of businesses and advisers is crucial.  

The CMA notes that it sees the first year of the charter as having been a success on the basis that straightforward merger cases have been cleared in 25 working days or less and the 40 working day KPI for the pre-notification had been met in all cases it applied to. This may also result from the CMA's tendency to delay the start of the formal pre-notification stage until it is satisfied that it has all the information it needs to commence its pre-notification review. 

With further changes to the merger landscape forming part of the King's Speech, there is potential for further movement in this area. The dealmaking community should follow these updates closely as they develop. 

CMA speech on competition and scaling  

"The UK and Europe do not have a startup problem." There is no shortage of innovation, ambition or ideas. What is lacking are the "market conditions" to scale firms to success. This was the message delivered by Jessica Lennard, the CMA's chief strategy and external affairs officer, at the Tech.eu Summit London 2026.  

The CMA will always be an enforcer of competition law, but also seeks to act as an enabler of competition, scale-ups and growth, advising government and advocating for interventions which support growth and investment. Ms Lennard gave three practical examples:  

• Understanding scaling firms. Building on analysis from the CMA's Microeconomics Unit on high-growth firms, the Public Policy team will report on an engagement programme with startups and scale-ups across the UK's IS-8 Industrial Strategy priority sectors. Early findings indicate that scaling decisions are global, embeddedness matters, and firms seek regulatory predictability. 
• UK Public Procurement. Worth nearly £400 billion, it is the largest tool available to shape markets, but is not currently designed to drive growth. The CMA aims to change this with pro-competitive thinking and also plans to use AI to tackle bid-rigging. 
• Regulation. Where regulation is seen as a barrier to scaling, firms are not calling for weaker standards but for coherence, speed and certainty. The CMA will support the government to identify where regulation is unintentionally harming competitive dynamics.  

Ms Lennard closed with an overview of the CMA's recent work in digital markets and the message: competition, done well, is a catalyst for scale, not a constraint on it.  

The CMA continues to align itself with the government's pro-growth agenda. For businesses seeking to scale, this is positive. The CMA is looking at how it can help create the right market conditions for growth. In practice, this may mean greater predictability and the removal of regulatory barriers.  

Updated Transparency and Disclosure guidance 

The CMA recently consulted on proposed updates to its general guidance on transparency and disclosure. The guidance aims to ensure the CMA acts openly, fairly and efficiently: enabling parties to understand key case issues while protecting confidential information, ensuring procedural fairness, and enhancing the accountability and predictability of its decisions. The changes involve withdrawing previous guidance and revising its existing guidance in this area. 

The revisions are twofold. First, the updated CMA6, presented in a new design to improve readability, consolidates guidance into a single document, with an annex identifying those sections of CC7 that are significantly amended or superseded by the updated statement. Second, the updates embed the 4Ps framework throughout. Specific changes include: expressly recognising that transparency helps interested persons identify inaccuracies and incomplete or misleading information; making clearer the link between timely responses to information requests and the pace of CMA work, and expressly referring to its aim to conduct information gathering in a targeted, efficient and proportionate manner; and clarifying the respective remits of the Procedural Officer, Procedural Complaint Adjudicator and General Counsel when reviewing complaints. 

The updated guidance expressly links timely responses to the pace of CMA investigations, making prompt engagement ahead of CMA-imposed deadlines more important than ever. Businesses may also hope for more consistent and predictable conduct from the CMA.