Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on March 23, 2026
1 min readLast updated: March 23, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleUK Prime Minister Keir Starmer signalled on March 23, 2026, that the government is considering expanding the Competition and Markets Authority’s powers to crack down on energy price gouging and profiteering amid Middle East conflict–driven energy volatility.
LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that his government may consider expanding the powers of the competition regulator to tackle price gouging and profiteering in the energy market, given the impact of the Middle East conflict.
"We are looking at measures to deal with profiteering ... we might look at what further teeth we can give the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) to deal with this," Starmer told a parliamentary committee.
"I want to see more on price gouging or profiteering ... we're actively considering whether the CMA should have additional powers to deal specifically with that, but at the moment we're making sure they're focused on anti-profiteering."
(Reporting by Muvija M; Editing by Catarina Demony)
The UK government is considering expanding the powers of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to address price gouging and profiteering in the energy market.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that the government may give the CMA additional powers to tackle profiteering.
The government is responding to concerns about price gouging and profiteering in the energy market, especially given the impact of the conflict in the Middle East.
The CMA is responsible for preventing anti-competitive behavior, and may be given expanded powers to specifically target price gouging and profiteering.
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