Andrew Tyrie, chair of Competition and Markets Authority, to step down
Former Treasury select committee chair Lord Andrew Tyrie has resigned as chairman of the UK’s competition watchdog, citing the “inherent limits” of his position.
Tyrie, who used to be a Conservative MP, announced he would step down from his role at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in September.
He joined the CMA in April 2018, having stood down as an MP the year before.
In a statement, Tyrie said that he wanted to make a more forceful case for reform of consumer protections than he could in his current position.
“I now want to make the case more forcefully for legislative and other reform – in Parliament and beyond – than is possible within the inherent limits of my position as CMA chairman”, he said.
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Tyrie had proposed a series of legislative reforms during his tenure, having previously said the body was not fir for purpose.
He added: “On taking the role, I was asked by the Government to map out a route to a new type of competition authority, one better equipped to understand and respond to what most concerns ordinary consumers: penalties for loyal customers, price discrimination against vulnerable consumers, the difficulties faced by millions in getting good deals online, among them.
“I was also asked to suggest ways in which the CMA could become more agile, less legally encumbered, and also with closer international ties, reflecting both the increasingly global and often digital nature of consumer detriment, and the CMA’s enhanced post-Brexit role.
“We’ve all, particularly the most senior executive team and the Board, worked hard at the CMA to do that”.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will now commence the process for recruiting a new Chair of the CMA.
More to follow.