Technology was once an afterthought in the manifestos of the major British political parties, but this is not the case today. Each of them talks at length about artificial intelligence, data centres, cybersecurity and even deepfakes in their 2024 manifestos.
Labour’s pledges skew largely towards regulation and infrastructure and include the creation of new departments like a National Data Library and a Regulatory Innovation Office. The Conservatives, meanwhile, have committed to banning smartphones in schools, tax relief schemes and a £2bn boost to R&D spending.
Both the Tories and Labour have pledged to deliver gigabit broadband by 2030 and promised to continue the 5G rollout across the UK.