Tories 'water down' Bill aimed at tackling tech firms' grip on economy
Ministers were last night accused of ‘watering down’ proposals to make it harder for big tech firms to frustrate the competition watchdog.
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill seeks to introduce a ‘pro-competition regime’ which will address the ‘far-reaching market power of a small number of tech firms’, such as Google and Apple.
It aims to tackle the most powerful firms’ grip on the economy by opening up markets to greater competition.
Peers had amended the Bill amid fears that big tech could use their legal might and finances to frustrate the competition watchdog.
The House of Lords had voted to restore the original wording of draft legislation relating to the power of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to impose conduct requirements on firms.
Ministers have been accused of ‘watering down’ a bill to make it harder to frustrate the competition watchdog (stock image)
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill seeks to address the ‘far-reaching market power of a small number of tech firms’, such as Google and Apple (stock image)
But at the ‘ping pong’ stage in Parliament yesterday, the Commons overturned the peers’ amendments.
Yet a number of MPs expressed concerns that a change made by the Government from ‘appropriate’ to ‘proportionate’ would widen the scope for decisions by the watchdog to be disputed by companies.
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Conservative former minister Damian Collins said the Government had suggested the word change was a ‘tidying up exercise’, but he said: ‘It is really important at this point that we’re clear, the House is clear what it is intended from this change.
‘And there is a concern that this opens up, effectively, a sort of full merits appeal basis, something that we’ve been – in all the debates on this Bill going through both Houses – keen to avoid.
‘And I think the Government has rightly resisted calls from big tech companies to bring that in, because that is a recipe for multiple and lengthy litigations, just as there is on every single measure of tech regulation that exists as a whole; that is not the intention.’
Labour’s Alex Davies-Jones said the Government must reverse the ‘watering down’ of the legislation.
She told the Commons: ‘What is more important to this Government? Appeasing big companies or acting for the good of the exact people they are supposed to represent.
At the ‘ping pong’ stage in Parliament yesterday, the Commons overturned the peers’ amendments (stock image)
‘And if it is not to appease big companies, why will the Government not revert back to ensuring the CMA’s interventions are ‘appropriate’ rather than ‘proportionate’.’
She said the change would have a ‘significant impact’ on the scope of big tech firms to challenge the CMA under judicial review.
‘While the Tories’ watering down of this legislation and its wording may initially appear trivial, in fact this will only encourage big tech to challenge the decisions of the CMA,’ she added.
‘If we want this legislation to actually be workable, to be worth the paper it is written on, we must ensure it is clear, it is precise and it is unambiguous.’
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