My review of recent Digital legislation passed in Parliament
As we listened to what is upcoming in the next Parliament in the King’s Speech this week, let’s take a look at what made it over the legislative line during the first session of this government. I hope this offers some context for what was slated for the next session set out in the King’s Speech on May 13th.
Lest anyone think the Online Safety Act (2023) marked the end of deeply concerned parliamentary debate on issues of online safety, the final drafts of the Crime and Policing Bill and the Children’s Wellbeing Bill highlight both movement and compromise.
Ministers have now confirmed that some form of age or functionality restrictions for under‑16s will happen, regardless of consultation outcomes. Alongside this a major provision making tech executives criminally liable if platforms fail to remove non‑consensual intimate images within 48 hours, signals a far tougher stance on harms affecting women and girls.
What didn’t make it, however, is clarity. The much-reported blanket social media ban never materialised, and important questions remain unanswered: what exactly age restrictions will cover, how they’ll be enforced, and how platforms are meant to design compliance systems around as‑yet undefined rules. The real test will be whether the next phase delivers certainty, trust and workable outcomes rather than policy opacity.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology SoS Liz Kendall spoke at RUSI Europe on ‘rebuilding Britain for the new world’, pointing out that “70% of global AI compute [is] now controlled by just 5 companies” and saying “we must shape this technology, not just be shaped by it.”
She also highlighted that Sovereign AI has already made 2 direct investments… in Callosum & (with the British Business Bank) in Ineffable Intelligence. In June a new ‘AI Hardware Plan’ will be launched at London Tech Week.
More than a little irony in the fact that 2 UK businesses (Google DeepMind, sold to Google in 2014 and Arm, maj. owned by Japanese SoftBank Group since 2016) were mentioned during the speech.
What lost opportunities for Sovereign AI there?
In the same speech, Liz Kendall revealed that the government is going over the Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill “with a fine-tooth comb” in light of Anthropic’s Mythos model. The Bill will be coming back in the next session after being introduced in November 2025, but not completing all stages. I wrote then about the provisions of this critically important bill.
The govt said they didn’t need to address AI-specific threats on the face of the bill, but protection for our critical national infrastructure is a huge priority and Mythos may be making them reconsider?
