Calls for post-Brexit reforms of UK competition law

Calls for post-Brexit reforms of UK competition law

The government should launch sweeping reforms of competition laws to improve consumer confidence, lower costs for businesses and boost the UK economy after Brexit, according to a leading Tory MP.John Penrose, a prominent backbench MP commissioned by the government last year to explore post-Brexit opportunities for UK competition policy, said ministers needed to launch a new parliamentary act to update Britain's consumer institutions to reflect the rise of the digital economy.Calling for the changes in a report published on Tuesday, he said the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regulator needed more power to be given tougher penalties to companies that do not cooperate fully in investigations. The watchdog should also work out a way that lets customers easily compare the “price” of free online services.Many digital companies, such as Google and Facebook, do not charge customers for many of their services but instead gather customers' data, used to give them insights that allow adverts to be targeted at consumers.The “CMA must consider how to improve transparency of the price consumers are paying through their data for digital goods and services, so they can make informed choices about whether each one represents good value or not, and whether they wish to