Following the resignation of Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak has been confirmed as Britain's next prime minister. We tracked what both candidates said about tech and telecoms during the July–September leadership campaign. While more immediately having to contend with severe macroeconomic challenges and the cost of living crisis, the new PM will at some point have the opportunity to shape the country’s tech and telecoms policy agenda.
James Robinson, Senior Analyst at Assembly comments:
“Like Truss, Sunak wants to ensure the Online Safety Bill strikes a balance between preserving free speech and protecting children by stopping their exposure to explicit material. His view was that by restricting “legal but harmful” content, the Government risks suppressing free speech. With the bill currently paused, he had wanted to use that window to make changes, but it’s fair to say probably little progress will have been made here. However, given the high profile nature of the recently concluded Molly Russell inquest, it’s likely to be an issue closer to the top of his in-tray.
“More broadly concerning big tech, Sunak signalled his intention to crack down on the anti-competitive practices of the largest online platforms by creating a new regulator with “real teeth”. Although his original pledge to take forward the promised Digital Markets legislation this autumn may now see a delay, providing legal backing for the Digital Markets Unit would give it more of the power it needs. Relatedly, Sunak vowed to implement measures to support the sustainability of the newspaper industry and to ensure “fair terms” for publishers in their negotiations with tech firms.
“Sunak said precious little during the July–September leadership campaign about connectivity. One of his previous contributions when Chancellor was the “super deduction” tax relief for infrastructure investment. Broadband builders (and BT in particular) have wanted to know whether it will continue. Given the current state of public finances, nothing can be certain, but without it, going beyond today’s 70% gigabit broadband coverage would get that bit harder.”
“More firmly in his sights is removing what he sees as ‘burdens’ from Brussels and the future of the BBC and Channel 4. As a Brexiteer, Sunak is eager that the UK overhauls the GDPR and replaces it with a new, dynamic data protection regime. He argues this would encourage innovation by domestic tech startups and enable data sharing among public services to tackle crime such as online scams – an issue debated in Parliament only last week. Perhaps more contentious is the suggestion Sunak would look to abolish the BBC licence fee and take forward plans to privatise Channel 4 – something he sees as necessary to help them compete with the likes of Amazon and Netflix.”
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