The first King’s Speech of the new Labour government was delivered today with over 35 Bills proposed.  We look at the key proposed legislation for digital, commerce and creative.  The key aim of the programme is “Improving living standards for working people through economic growth”.  The government also wants to pursue "sustainable growth…by encouraging investment in industry, skills and new technologies". In addition, the new government will "seek to reset the relationship with EU to improve the UK's trade and investment relationship with the EU”.

So how does this translate into commitments for the digital, commerce and creative sectors?

Digital

The government "will seek to establish the appropriate legislation to place requirements on those working to develop the most powerful artificial intelligence models".

A Digital Information and Smart Data Bill will be introduced. The Government wants to ensure that it can harness the power of data for economic growth, to support a modern digital government, and to improve people’s lives.  It also delivers on the manifesto commitment of establishing a Data Preservation Process that coroners (and procurators fiscal in Scotland) can initiate when they decide that they need online information for their investigations into a child’s death.

A Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will be introduced, aimed at strengthening the UK’s cyber defences and making sure that critical infrastructure and the digital services that companies rely on are secure.

A Railways Bill will introduce automatic compensation, digital pay-as-you-go and digital season ticketing across the whole network in Great Britain.

Commerce

The Arbitration Bill aims to support more efficient dispute resolution, attract international legal business, and promote UK economic growth.  Its reforms will cover England and Wales and Northern Ireland and it follows a report by the Law Commission of England and Wales.

A Product Safety and Metrology Bill will be introduced.  The government says that most of the UK’s product safety and metrology framework is derived from EU law developed over the past four decades. As technology and regulation continues to develop, new powers are needed to address current or future threats and hazards, and ensure a continued supply of safe goods on the UK market.

The Crime and Policing Bill will tackle knife crime. Among other things, there will be sanctions on senior executives of online companies who fail to operate within the law. In the manifesto, Labour said that it would ban the online sale of certain knives. The Bill also creates a new specific offence of assaulting a shopworker and introduce stronger measures to tackle low level shoplifting, which will be interesting to our retail clients.

A bill to "establish an independent football regulator" will be introduced, aimed at ensuring “greater sustainability in the game and strengthen protections for fans". The Football Governance Bill was lost in the wash-up before parliament was dissolved before the General Election but enjoyed cross-party support so it’s not a surprise that Labour is reviving it.

Creative

Similarly, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill was lost, and Labour now plans to introduce a Bill to "progressively increase the age at which people can buy cigarettes and impose limits on the sale and marketing of vapes".

The government also plans to legislate to "restrict advertising of junk food to children along with the sale of high caffeine energy drinks to children".

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill also returns from the previous administration, and requires those responsible for certain premises and events to take steps to mitigate the impact of a terrorist attack and reduce harm if a terrorist attack occurs. The measures required vary according to the capacity of the premises or event and will be of interest to our clients who host events.

What wasn’t there?

We were expecting possible measures in relation to online safety but they are not included in this programme. There was also talk of requiring tech companies providing compensation for APP fraud, but this does not feature either. In fact there was a manifesto commitment to combat online fraud, but it is not mentioned in this programme.

What comes next?

We will monitor developments and will be publishing more details of some of the Bills in due course