Customers of internet, mobile telephone and personal banking companies are being overcharged for poor services because of a lack of competition that may get worse as the UK prepares to leave the European Union, a leading think-tank has warned.
In its report, Concentration not Competition: The state of UK consumer markets, published on 2 October, the Social Market Foundation said that the economic and social settlement that exists in the UK is at a “critical juncture”. Brexit and the 2017 general election raised questions about the extent to which markets, left largely to their own devices, can provide good outcomes for consumers.
Big companies in areas such as broadband, mobile telephones and personal banking don’t face enough competition, meaning that consumers are hit with a lack of choice, higher prices and underinvestment, it said. Another issue is a growing distrust in business and “unhappiness about the economy”.
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