Debbie Heywood looks at some of the manifesto proposals which could impact the digital sector depending on the outcome of the 2024 UK general election.

What's the issue?

On 4 July 2024, the UK goes to the polls to elect a new government. There isn't a poll which doesn't predict a convincing Labour victory (although the campaign is not over and polls are not always reliable). What can we glean from the manifestos about what the leading parties would do in the digital sector and would a Labour victory result in major changes in this area?

What's the development?

Over the last week, the political parties have been publishing their manifestos. For the purposes of this article we will focus on Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat policy in areas relevant to tech and online businesses (not including tax) but other parties are, of course, available.

Labour

The Labour Party manifesto was published on 13 June 2024.

In terms of tech and digital, Labour intends to:

• Set up a Regulatory Innovation Office to help regulators in their role of policing and encouraging new technologies.

• Introduce binding rules for AI to ensure the safe development and use of AI models – this is likely to require frontier models to share safety testing data with the AI Safety Institute, making currently voluntary commitments binding.

• Create a National Data Library to provide access to public data sets and remove planning barriers for data centres.

• Support creation of conditions to facilitate open banking.

• Build on the Online Safety Act including by giving coroners further powers to access information held by social media companies on the death of a child, criminalise sexually explicit deepfakes, and update rules to help protect people from online radicalisation.  Labour will also explore further measures to keep everyone safe online, especially when using social media but does not say what these might entail.

• Labour commits to reducing gambling related harm by reforming gambling regulation and strengthening protections but does not say how it will do this.

Among other things, Labour also aims to:

• Ban advertising of junk food and the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under-16s, and ban vapes from being marketed to children.

• Introduce consumer protections on ticket sales.

• Take action on late payments and reform public procurement rules to help small businesses.

While the Labour manifesto does not mention the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, some of its proposals suggest that it may introduce at least parts of the Bill if not those which deal with reform of personal data protection law.

There are a number of plans for constitutional reform including increased devolution, modernising the House of Lords, giving 16-17 year olds the right to vote and reforming rules on party funding donations. As has been widely reported in the media, the Labour party commits to staying outside the EU while making Brexit work by deepening EU ties - Rachel Reeves subsequently suggested Labour would seek to improve trade terms with the EU if elected. Labour rules out a return to the single market or the customs union and commits to staying in the European Convention on Human Rights.

Conservatives

The Conservative Party published its manifesto on 11 June 2024.  Given they are the incumbents, it is perhaps unsurprising that it does not contain much about policy on digital; beyond some general aims around bolstering the economy.

Automated vehicles, future aviation and the space industry are all mentioned as, of course, is AI.  There is, however, no mention of any plans to legislate to regulate AI despite rumours that civil servants have already begun working on draft legislation to cover large language models.

Interestingly, having introduced the Online Safety Act, the Conservatives propose further online safety measures. In particular, they propose legislation to ban mobile phone use in schools (upgrading from current guidance). The manifesto also says a Conservative government would consult on introducing further parental controls over children's access to social media.

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats are, arguably, the most likely party to get involved in any coalition situation. They published their manifesto on 10 June 2024. They go into much more detail on the digital front than the Conservatives. They propose:

• Increasing the Digital Services Tax from 2 to 6%.

• 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".

• Introducing a Digital Bill of Rights to protect everyone's rights online including the rights to privacy, free expression, and participation without being subject to harassment and abuse.

• Ending bulk collection of communications data and internet connection records.

• Introducing a legally binding regulatory framework for all forms of biometric surveillance.

• Requiring social media companies to publish reports setting out action they have taken to address online abuse against women and girls, and other groups sharing a protected characteristic.

• Restricting junk food advertising.

• Rejoining the Single Market when the time is right.

• Acting to crack down on illegal ticket sales.

• Introducing a general duty of care on businesses in relation to the environment, human rights and supply chains, and requiring companies with more than 250 employees to sign up to the Prompt Payment Code which would become enforceable.

• Keeping up at least EU standards of consumer protection.

They include more detail on AI regulation policy, proposing a "clear, workable and well-resourced cross-sectoral regulatory framework for AI" that:

• Promotes innovation and creates certainty.

• Establishes transparency and accountability for AI systems in the public sector.

• Ensures use of personal data and AI is unbiased, transparent and accurate and respects the privacy of "innocent" people.

The manifesto also proposes a push to join the EU-US Trade and Technology Council in order to help play a leading role in global AI regulation.

The Liberal Democrats also focus on problem gambling and propose introducing the planned compulsory levy on gambling companies, restricting gambling advertising, establishing a gambling ombudsperson, implementing affordability checks, and taking action against black market gambling.

In a number of proposed political reforms, the Liberal Democrats include working towards a global convention or treaty to combat disinformation and electoral interference and introducing a new regime to regulate political advertising.

What does this mean for you?

The overwhelming favourite and predicted to win a historic landslide is the Labour Party.  If that is indeed the outcome, Labour will be able to push through a lot of legislation without too much opposition.

The manifestos are important indicators but arguably more significant will be the King's Speech, currently set to take place on 17 July.  That is when we will fully understand the new government's legislative and policy priorities.