Digital election: party manifestos assessed

The political parties published their manifestos recently. Amongst the predictable promises of fixing the NHS, delivering Brexit benefits and 'change', each party also set out their proposals in relation to information governance and the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI).

Before the snap election was announced, most information professionals were getting ready to implement the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill which was making its way through the House of Lords and was set to be passed in July. The bill would have amended the UK GDPR to make it, according to the government, 'a tailored, business-friendly British system of data protection.' The election put an end to the bill which failed to make it through parliamentary 'wash up' stage. It is likely that some type of data protection law reform will be undertaken by the next government but, at present, none of the parties’ election manifestos contain any such proposals.

Data and surveillance

Turning to the parties’ more general proposals about data, the Liberal Democrat manifesto has the most to say on this topic. They propose to introduce 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.' They will end the bulk collection of communications data and internet connection records and introduce a legally binding regulatory framework for all forms of biometric surveillance. They will also 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 2018.

The Conservative’s proposals include digitising NHS processes through the Federated Data Platform, legislating to deliver comparable data across the UK so the performance of public services can be accurately compared and delivering the Pumpwatch scheme 'that will force petrol retailers to share live information on their prices, helping drivers to get a fair price at the pump.' Labour has nothing to say on this topic apart from a pledge to 'improve data sharing across services, with a single unique identifier, to better support children and families.'

AI regulation

The rapid advancements in AI, and their potential to impact on people’s rights and freedoms, has led to calls for better regulation. Only the Liberal Democrats seem to be planning full scale AI regulation on a statutory basis. Their manifesto promises to 'create a clear, workable and well-resourced cross-sectoral regulatory framework' that promotes innovation while creating certainty for AI users, developers and investors, establishes transparency and accountability for AI systems in the public sector and ensures the use of personal data and AI is unbiased, transparent and accurate, and respects the privacy of innocent people. They also pledge to negotiate the UK’s participation in the Trade and Technology Council with the US and the EU, so the UK can play a leading role in global AI regulation, and work with international partners in agreeing common standards for AI risk and impact assessment, testing, monitoring and audit.

The Lib Dems may have an eye on the, recently enacted, EU AI Act as a blueprint for UK legislation. The act sets out comprehensive rules for AI applications, including a risk-based system to address potential threats to health and safety, and human rights. It also places obligations on AI developers and users including adherence to data governance standards, transparency rules, and the incorporation of human oversight mechanisms.

The Conservative manifesto does not really propose major new policies or laws when it comes to AI. This suggests that they will continue their current approach to AI regulation which is a non-statutory approach to make use of 'regulators’ domain-specific expertise' to tailor the implementation of the governments broad AI principles to the specific context in which AI is used. The Conservatives also pledge to a continue existing policies of supporting AI innovation and research through funding and tax relief.

The Labour party manifesto also contains pledges to support the development of AI. It says Labour will ensure their 'industrial strategy supports the development of the AI sector and removes planning barriers to new datacentres.' They will also 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.' There is also a pledge to regulate AI but only in some cases:

'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.'

But there is no real detail about what AI regulation will look like under Labour. Perhaps the party will take the lead from the TUC, which produced an AI Bill in April, or the EU AI Act.

Freedom of Information

Freedom of Information laws are always popular with opposition parties who wish to critically assess government policies or discover uncomfortable truths (at least for the government) about their implementation. But in government such laws are often seen as an inconvenience (just ask Tony Blair). None of the parties make any specific mention of FOI in their manifestos. This is surprising; the Labour Party has been arguing for many years that private contractors delivering public services should be subject to FOI laws and the Conservatives have, in the past, suggested making housing associations subject to FOI. The only manifesto pledge on transparency in government is made by the Liberal Democrats who propose that 'all Ministers’ instant-messaging conversations involving government business must be placed on the departmental record' and that 'all lobbying of Ministers via instant messages, emails, letters and phone calls is published as part of quarterly transparency releases'.

Finally Count Binface, who has become a media star since standing in the London Mayoral Election (and beating the BNP) and who is now fighting Rishi Sunak in the PM’s North Yorkshire constituency, promises, amongst other things, to bring back Ceefax to all households! Now that is a vote winner; at least for readers of a certain age!

Ibrahim Hasan is a lawyer and director of Act Now Training