Former Amazon UK Country Manager Doug Gurr Tuesday became interim chair of Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority as government directs regulators to focus on growth instead of market competition compliance. The move reflects British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s pledge to make sure regulators focus on economic growth. File Pool photo by Tolga Akmen/ EPA-EFE
Jan. 22 (UPI) — Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority tapped former Amazon U.K. Country Manager Doug Gurr to serve as its interim chair.
Britain’s Department of Business and Trade announced Gurr’s appointment Tuesday as the government directs regulators to focus on economic growth rather than market competition compliance.
“I’m pleased to welcome Doug as interim Chair who will oversee the CMA while we recruit for a permanent position, supporting the leadership of CEO Sarah Cardell. This Government has a clear Plan for Change — to boost growth for businesses and communities across the U.K.,” British Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds said in a statement.
“We want to see regulators including the CMA supercharging the economy with pro-business decisions that will drive prosperity and growth, putting more money in people’s pockets.”
Gurr said in a statement that he was “honored to be asked to Chair the CMA at this crucial time.”
“I look forward to working with the strong leadership team to help deliver business investment and economic growth in a framework of effective competition and consumer protection,” he said.
Gurr’s appointment and the government’s shift of CMA’s regulatory mission toward focusing on business growth came after criticism alleging that regulators were stifling economic expansion.
CMA CEO Sarah Cardell and other regulators met with Finance Minister Rachel Reeves and were told to “tear down the barriers hindering business and refocus their efforts on promoting growth.”
Cardell said in emailed comments to CNBC that the CMA “has a critical role to play supporting the government’s growth mission.”
The Department for Business and Trade’s Tuesday statement on Gurr’s appointment said, “the Government will shortly be consulting on a new growth-focused Strategic Steer to the CMA.”
Gurr led Amazon in China as well as in Britain. He is currently Director of the British National History Museum.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said at the International Investment Summit in October that the British government will make sure that every regulator focuses on growth.
“We will rip out the bureaucracy that blocks investment,” Starmer said at that summit. “We will march through the institutions…And we will make sure that every regulator in this country…Especially our economic and competition regulators…Takes growth as seriously as this room does.”
The CMA, under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, is supposed to prevent anti-competitive business behavior in Britain’s tech markets.
It’s unclear how that mission can be effectively carried out with the new mandate to focus on economic growth.