Enterprise Act 2002 (Amendment of Section 58 Considerations) Order 2025 (SI, 2025, No. 737)

Parliament approved a statutory instrument amending the Enterprise Act 2002 on 16 July 2025, extending the considerations ministers can use to intervene in business mergers and takeovers on national security grounds. The vote passed by 333 ayes to 54 noes. The order, designated SI 2025 No. 737, adds new considerations to section 58 of the Act, the provision that sets out the specific public interest grounds on which ministers may scrutinise or block deals. The practical effect is to widen the range of circumstances in which a government minister can intervene when a merger or acquisition raises national security concerns. Section 58 of the Enterprise Act 2002 lists the grounds on which ministers can set aside ordinary competition rules and examine a deal on broader public interest grounds; this order extends that list. Businesses and investors in the sectors or technologies captured by the new considerations will face the possibility of ministerial scrutiny that did not previously apply to them. The Liberal Democrats supplied almost all of the opposition, with 49 of their MPs voting no and 23 with no vote recorded. Labour and its Co-operative partners voted unanimously in favour, as did the Green Party and Reform UK. The Conservatives did not formally oppose the measure; three Conservative MPs voted no, but 113 had no vote recorded. The division sat within a broader period of government business relating to economic regulation, though the related divisions in the dataset concern the Employment Rights Bill rather than merger controls.