A sweeping victory in this month’s general election gave Keir Starmer’s Labour Party its first majority in the UK’s House of Commons since 2005 and one of its biggest ever. Legal expert Jonathan Armstrong considers how the election results are likely to affect compliance.
New UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Labour Party enjoy a majority not seen since the days of Tony Blair, but how might this new majority use its time in office to change the world of compliance? The Labour manifesto is 135 pages long but doesn’t tell the whole story for what’s ahead.
Clearly there will be work to be done in setting out the agenda for the next five years and many key ministerial appointments are still to be made; with the usual qualifications on these being predictions and not fact here are some thoughts:
Bribery & corruption
The last Labour government saw the passing of the Bribery Act 2010 as one of the key components of its time in office when it was most recently in power. But it didn’t have time to enforce the act as it was effectively passed in the last days of Gordon Brown’s administration. It has the opportunity now to enforce an anti-corruption agenda. Starmer was formerly head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and knows the criminal justice system well. At the same time, Labour has promised to look at corrupt contracts from the last administration, notably in personal protective equipment (PPE) procurement during the pandemic.
They inherit a new director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) who’s only been in office since September 2023 and who seems keen on change, too, with new investigations including dawn raids. In addition, Labour proposed a new Covid corruption commissioner specifically tasked with looking into £7.2bn of contracts that have caused concern.
The new administration has a chance to increase anti-corruption enforcement and show change from what was perceived to be a more lax enforcement regime during Boris Johnson’s time in office.
AI
The new government is also likely to look again at AI enforcement. While the EU’s AI Act seeks to regulate AI through a new legal regime, the previous government favored self-regulation. That may change. Labour plans to set up a new Regulatory Innovation Office, which will look at the challenges of AI and support existing regulators, including the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Competition and Markets Authority in using their existing powers to regulate AI.
Labour may also bring in specific legislation, which could be a simplified version of the EU AI Act. With a decent majority and a favorable legislative timetable, it may even be possible for new UK legislation to come into force around the same time as the EU legislation in 2026.
Labour also plans to set up a national data library, which can be used to support AI applications given the issues that exist with training data currently. The model could be the new Rail Data Marketplace, which was set up under the last administration.
Data protection
The proposed Data Protection & Digital Information Bill did not survive the wash-up process at the end of the outgoing Parliament. This would likely signal Labour opposition to some aspects of the bill. It is likely to return in a modified form that removes some of its more controversial provisions. The new administration is also likely to be more cautious about jeopardizing the UK’s EU adequacy status,so expect fewer changes to UK data protection law than previously proposed. These changes might include some relaxation of some aspects of GDPR for research and innovation especially in an attempt to improve the National Health Service (NHS).
Justice
Labour has made commitments to tackle crime, policing and the court backlog. They have also made commitments to fix the prison system. If they can pull this off, this may free up resources for more white-collar investigations, including in bribery, as mentioned above, and enforcing recently enacted anti-fraud legislation.
Public sector
Those dealing with the public sector can expect changes here, too. Labour has proposed a so-called Hillsborough Law with a new duty of candor for public servants. In addition, while not a manifesto commitment, there may be an extension of the Freedom of Information (FOI) regime to those in the private sector undertaking work for the public sector.
Trade & customs
The Labour party has a manifesto commitment to review trade barriers. This could lead to closer alignment with the EU. Likely members of Starmer’s cabinet have also favored using existing legislation to look more closely at the origin of goods, notably those made in alleged slavery conditions in China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Tougher action on XUAR may also be politically expedient for a Labour government wishing to learn lessons from a perceived lack of support for Muslim interests in some constituencies.
Labor/employment law
Labour is likely to want to review the existing employment law regime in its first 10 days. This could include a right to disconnect, but this is unlikely to be as hard and fast as the laws enacted and proposed in some parts of Europe. Starmer is known to be keen on work-life balance, so expect some sort of proposals encouraging employers and employees to agree on working hours, prohibitions on emails at weekends for those not scheduled to work, etc.
Jonathan Armstrong is a partner at Punter Southall. He is an experienced lawyer with a concentration on technology and compliance. His practice includes advising multinational companies on matters involving risk, compliance and technology across Europe. He has handled legal matters in more than 60 countries involving emerging technology, corporate governance, ethics code implementation, reputation, internal investigations, marketing, branding and global privacy policies. Jonathan has counseled a range of clients on breach prevention, mitigation and response. He has also been particularly active in advising multinational corporations on their response to the UK Bribery Act 2010 and its inter-relationship with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
