LONDON — Prime Minister Keir Starmer has defended his decision to put a review of online safety rules on the table in trade talks with the United States.
Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, Starmer said that although Britain needs strong internet safety rules to protect children, it also needs to remain a pioneer of free speech.
POLITICO first reported last week that a review of the implementation of the Online Safety Act and the U.K.’s new digital markets rulebook were included in a potential U.S.-U.K. deal.
The Digital Services Tax, a two percent levy on the revenue of tech companies, is also on the table. All three policies have attracted fierce opposition by the U.S. tech industry.
When asked about the ongoing negotiations during a public hearing on Tuesday afternoon by Chi Onwurah, chair of the House of Commons’ Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, Starmer said: “There are questions about the appropriate way to tax digital services. There are questions about how technology impacts with free speech.”
But he added: “I have been very clear, in my view, that we need to have an arrangement for digital tax of some sort. And equally, we need to be pioneers of free speech, which we have been for very many years in this country.
“But at the same time, we rightly protect under the Online Safety Act further provisions of which are coming into force pretty quickly, and when it comes to dealing with pedophiles and protecting children, I take a pretty strong line that we take the necessary measures in order to do so.”
Starmer was less firm on misinformation. When asked by Onwurah about the role of social media stoking riots last summer after murders in Southport, Starmer said there was a need to be “proportionate.”
Lib Dem MP Layla Moran also asked Starmer during the Liaison Committee session if parts of the NHS, including U.S. market access to NHS data, were on the table in the talks. He avoided answering directly saying: “I’ve been very protective of the approach we take to the NHS in any dealings with any other country, because it is our greatest asset and we’re not trading it away.”
But he added: “I do think there’s work we can do on what use we make of that data, not so much in trade agreements, but right here in the United Kingdom in terms of advancing our own understanding of medicines and preventative measures.”
Moran’s question came after the government announced on Monday that it would set up a new “Health Data Research Service” for NHS data, which would provide a “secure single access point to national-scale datasets, slashing red tape for researchers.”
Talks are continuing on a draft deal between the U.S. and the U.K., with a U.K. government spokesperson saying last week they wouldn’t set out a timeline on it.
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