Former CMA chief slams Covid test ‘rip-off’

Published on Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Former chair of the Competition and Markets Authority Lord Tyrie has weighed in on the Covid test price debate.

Lord Tyrie says Covid tests for travel are ‘a predictable Covid rip-off’ and the competition watchdog had been ‘too slow to react’ to complaints.

The average cost of a PCR test us about £75 but prices can cost hundreds.

“It should either be acting already directly using existing powers. Or if deemed inadequate for the job, it should be advising the government on how to obtain a quick remedy, whether by legislation or by other means,” he told the BBC.

The CMA ‘could and should have been better prepared.’

Lord Tyrie left the CMA last summer citing inadequate mechanisms to impose sufficient anti-competitive reforms.

“Their energies need to be released from an excess of caution at the highest levels,” he added.

The CMA acknowledged ‘the cost of PCR testing is a pressing issue’ and is currently working to ‘identify structural problems in the PCR testing market and solutions to them.’