Privacy in the next Parliament… what should you watch for?
Written By
Partner
UK
I am based in London and co-head Bird & Bird's International Privacy and Data Protection Group. I enjoy providing practical advice and solutions to complex legal issues.
Partner
UK
I am a partner working on data and online safety compliance from our London office. I work with a wide variety of organisations, particularly in the media, sports and life sciences sectors. I also advise extensively on children's and employee privacy matters.
As we gear up to the next UK general election on July 4 2024, our privacy team has taken a closer look at the manifestoes to explore what we might expect on UK data protection reform from each political party. Wholesale UK DP reform is no longer on offer (except from Reform UK) but there are some interesting areas of focus across the different parties.
| Party | Key data protection points | AI | Social media and Online Safety | Digital Policing / Surveillance / National Security | Other |
| Labour (accessible here) | “.. we will create a National Data Library to bring together existing research programmes and help deliver data-driven public services, whilst maintaining strong safeguards and ensuring all of the public benefit.” (p. 35) “Labour will improve data sharing across services, with a single unique identifier, to better support children and families.” (p. 81) “The revolution taking place in data and life sciences has the potential to transform our nation’s healthcare. The Covid-19 pandemic showed how a strong mission-driven industrial strategy, involving government partnering with industry and academia, could turn the tide on a pandemic. This is the approach we will take in government”. (p.96) |
“We will ensure our industrial strategy supports the development of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) sector, removes planning barriers to new datacentres.” (p. 35) “Labour will create a new Regulatory Innovation Office, bringing together existing functions across government. This office will help regulators update regulation, speed up approval timelines, and co-ordinate issues that span existing boundaries. Labour will ensure the safe development and use of AI models by introducing binding regulation on the handful of companies developing the most powerful AI models and by banning the creation of sexually explicit deepfakes.” (p. 35) |
“We have seen an increase in extreme misogynistic content online driving a culture of violence against women. Labour will build on the Online Safety Act, bringing forward provisions as quickly as possible, and explore further measures to keep everyone safe online, particularly when using social media. We will also give coroners more powers to access information held by technology companies after a child’s death.” (p. 103) |
“We will update the rules around counter-extremism, including online, to stop people being radicalised and drawn towards hateful ideologies.” (p. 15) “We will not wait for those at risk to come forward. Local prevention partnerships will identify young people who could be drawn into violence and intervene. And to offer young people a pathway out of violence, we will place youth workers and mentors in A&E units and Pupil Referral Units, funded by full recovery of the cost of firearm licensing” (p.66) “Labour will strengthen the use of Stalking Protection Orders and give women the right to know the identity of online stalkers.” (p. 68) “We will work with technology companies to stop their platforms being exploited by fraudsters.” (p. 69) |
None |
|
Reform |
Britain still retains over 6,700 EU laws. Government red tape and nanny state regulations are estimated to have cost the UK economy £143 billion since 2015. That means £ billions lost in growth and taxes. (p.6) Prepare for Renegotiations on the EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement A so-called EU ‘level playing field’ is holding us back. |
None | Promote Child Friendly App Restricted Smartphones Social media is associated with eating disorders, anxiety, depression, suicide and the child mental health crisis. Launch an inquiry into social media harms. Thereafter: Review the Online Safety Bill Social media giants that push baseless transgender ideology and divisive Critical Race theory should have no role in regulating free speech (p.16) | None | None |
| Conservatives (accessible here) | None | “We will: Doubling digital and AI expertise in the civil service, to take advantage of the latest technologies to transform public services.” (p. 11) |
None | None | Continuation of repealing and removing EU law (p. 11) “We will finalise a free trade agreement with India, alongside a deeper strategic partnership on technology and defence.” (p. 33) “We will: Replace tens of thousands of outdated computers, slashing the 13 million hours in doctors’ and nurses’ time lost to IT issues every year and digitise NHS processes through the Federated Data Platform.” (p. 41) |
| Liberal Democrats (accessible here) | “Empower consumers and ensure that everyone can enjoy the benefits of new technology, by setting a UK-wide target for digital literacy and requiring all products to provide a short, clear version of their terms and conditions, setting out the key facts as they relate to individuals’ data and privacy.” (p. 15) “Create a new ‘Patients Charter’, including: Protecting patient data and patients’ rights to opt out of data sharing.” (p. 35) “Establish a firewall to prevent public agencies from sharing personal information with the Home Office for the purposes of immigration enforcement and repeal the immigration exemption in the Data Protection Act.” (p. 90) “Introducing a legally binding regulatory framework for all forms of biometric surveillance.” (p. 94) |
“Create a clear, workable and well-resourced cross-sectoral regulatory framework for artificial intelligence that:
“Negotiate the UK’s participation in the Trade and Technology Council with the US and the EU, so we can play a leading role in global AI regulation, and work with international partners in agreeing common standards for AI risk and impact.” (p. 19) |
“Increasing the Digital Services Tax on social media firms and other tech giants from 2% to 6%.” (p. 14) “Introducing a Digital Bill of Rights to protect everyone’s rights online, including the rights to privacy, free expression, and participation without being subjected to harassment and abuse.” (p. 94) |
Improving police cooperation with European neighbours by “Restoring direct, real-time access for UK police to EU-wide data sharing systems to identify and arrest traffickers, terrorists and other international criminals.” (p. 58) “Ending the bulk collection of communications data and internet connection records.” (p. 94) “Developing closer cooperation with EU agencies and member states over defence, intelligence and cyber-security.” (p. 108) |
None |
| Greens (accessible here) | Employee data protection: “Every worker will have a right to access their data and to appeal management decisions. Gig employers that repeatedly breach data protection, employment or tax law will be denied licences to operate.” (p. 17, 18) | AI regulation: “push for a precautionary regulatory approach to the harms and risk of AI. We would align the UK approach with our neighbours in Europe, UNESCO and global efforts to support a coordinated response to future risks of AI.” (p. 38) | Digital Bill of Rights: “push to establish the UK as a leading voice on standards for the rule of law and democracy in digital spaces with a Digital Bill of Rights to ensure independent regulation of social media providers. This legislation will safeguard elections by responding to the challenges of foreign interference, social media and declining confidence in democracy.” The Digital Bill of Rights should “be developed through a broad and inclusive public conversation”. (p. 37, 38) | Policing: “Push for: An end (…) to the use of facial recognition software.” (p. 39) | None |
Contributors: Ruth Boardman, Emma Drake and Lewin Rexin
