A few weeks ago, Keir Starmer, leader of the British Labour Party, was appointed as the new United Kingdom’s Prime Minister. Starmer, whose appointment ends 14 years of Conservative Party in the Government, will also have a large majority in Parliament, which has not been the case since Tony Blair was Prime Minister, more than 15 years ago. Such a change in the British political scenario raises expectations of possible changes in the UK’s compliance scenario, which should impact not only the local environment, but also several other countries around the world, including Brazil.
In view of this, we would like to share the thoughts of lawyer Jonathan Armstrong, partner in the Compliance Group at Punter Southall Law in the United Kingdom about possible changes ahead
Before the definition of the official agenda, Jonathan makes comments regarding the predictions and expectations of new Government’s measures, based on the new Prime Minister’s background and the agendas defended by his Party.
Among several topics covered by him, set out below in this article, are possible changes in the treatment of sensitive issues such as combating corruption and the effective enforcement of related laws and regulations on highly discussed matters such as the regulation of artificial intelligence and data privacy and the right to the disconnect in labor relations.
• Strengthening anti-corruption agenda and combating corporate crime:
The approval of the Bribery Act in the final days of Gordon Brown’s Government, in 2010, was one of the key components of the Labour Party when it was last in power. However, its enforcement only began in the following Government. Now, the new Government has the opportunity to enforce its work towards the anti-corruption and anti-crime agenda, also considering Keir Starmer’s knowledge of the criminal justice system, as he led the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
The Labour Party has already committed to analyzing the contracts signed during the last Government, mainly in the acquisition of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) during the pandemic to investigated possible cases of corruption. To this end, the new Government is now trying to recruit a new COVID Corruption Commissioner specifically tasked with reviewing £7.2 billion derived from contracts which have caused concern.
The Labour Party also made commitments to increase policing and to tackle crime, in addition to reducing the courts backlog and improving the prison system, freeing up resources for criminal prosecution and greater enforcement of related laws, such as white collar investigations and the enforcement of the recently enacted anti-fraud legislation.
The government may have incentive from the new Director of the SFO (Serious Fraud Office) Nick Ephgrave, who has been in office since September 2023 and seems interested in changes, with new investigations, including dawn raids.
• Regulation of the use of artificial intelligence (AI):
While the European Union’s AI Law seeks to regulate artificial intelligence through a new legal regime, the last UK Government favored self-regulation. That approach will now change as the new Government plans to set up a new Regulatory Innovation Office which will look at the challenges of artificial intelligence and support existing regulatory bodies for guidance. We may expect specific legislation (also considering the Labour majority in Parliament) which could be a simplified version of the European Union’s AI Law.
The Labour Party also plans to create a National Data Library which can be used to support artificial intelligence applications, in the same model of the Rail Data Marketplace created under the last Government to facilitate the secure sharing of rail industry data.
• Regulations in relation to Data Protection:
The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill did not move forward in the previous Government, also due to Labour’s opposition to some aspects of the Bill. It is likely to be modified, removing some of its more controversial provisions, demonstrating more caution regarding the UK’s compliance with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), such as relaxing some aspects of the GDPR to research and innovation, especially in an attempt to improve the NHS.
• Transparency in the Public Sector:
The Labour Party proposed the so-called “Hillsborough Law” with a new duty of candor for public servants. Furthermore, although 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 and Customs
In line with European Union policy, the Labour Party has a manifesto commitment to review trade barriers. Members of Sir Keir’s cabinet have also favoured using exiting legislation to look more closely at the origin of goods, notably goods made in alleged slavery conditions in the 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 rights
The Labour Party is likely to want to review the existing employment law regime in its first 100days in office.
While new guidelines are unlikely to be as hard and fast as those enacted and proposed in some parts of Europe, some sort of proposal is expected that would encourage employers and employees to agree on working hours, prohibitions on email at weekends and other measures that strengthen the right to disconnect (avoiding employees’ constant connection with work in the face of remote work), as Keir Starmer is known for being a supporter of work-life balance.
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Jonathan Armstrong is an experienced lawyer at Punter Southall law based in London with a concentration on compliance & technology. He is also a Professor at Fordham Law School teaching a new post-graduate course on international compliance. Jonathan’s professional practice includes advising multinational companies on risk and compliance across Europe. Jonathan has handled legal matters in more than 60 countries covering a wide range of compliance issues. Jonathan is also regarded as an acknowledged expert in AI and he currently serves on the New York State Bar Association’s AI Task Force looking at the impact of AI on law and regulation.
