The Chancellor has confirmed that the Government will give the Competition and Markets Authority (the CMA) and other regulators “stronger, more targeted powers” to quickly tackle companies who are deemed to have engaged in price gouging – the practice of increasing prices to an unfair and excessive level, often during a crisis. 

Under the proposal, should the CMA or another regulator observe price gouging in an emergency, the Government will be able to grant it the ability to: (i) direct firms to stop exploitative pricing practices; (ii) impose penalties where necessary; and (iii) publish information on how individual firms have changed their margins in response to an economic shock, and the reasons behind this, in a “name and shame” approach. Once these new powers are implemented, it will be easier for the CMA  to respond swiftly to any evidence of price gouging (albeit these measures will fall short of direct price controls).

We expect the CMA to welcome these new powers. The CMA had previously advised the Government on the design of anti-price gouging legislation during the Covid-19 pandemic, but the Government did not take the proposals forward at that time. In a 2025 submission to the Business and Trade Committee, the CMA stated that, based on its experience of the Covid-19 pandemic, competition law is not designed to swiftly and comprehensively tackle crisis-driven price gouging. 

More recently, the CMA wrote to the Chancellor in the wake of the conflict in the Middle East, setting out its commitment to ensuring that effective competition helps minimise price increases and consumer rights are protected. The CMA has already put this commitment into practice with its work in the heating oil and road fuel sectors (see our article on this here).

These proposed new powers are yet another example of alignment between the CMA and Government on cost-of-living pressures. They also add to the CMA’s increasing arsenal of consumer protection powers, enabling it to respond swiftly to evidence of harmful practices across the economy.