Demand UK Digital Sovereignty
Digital sovereignty means that a country has control over its critical tech, national infrastructure and digital policy making.
What’s digital sovereignty?
It’s vital to protect the communication, banking, energy, travel and healthcare systems that we all rely on. It involves diversifying the businesses who provide systems and ensuring that they meet open standards.
Digital sovereignty does not mean that Government should only use UK companies, but it is an opportunity for economic growth if more home grown companies have the opportunity to provide and maintain our digital systems.
Other countries in Europe including Germany, France and Denmark are acting fast. They’re building digital sovereignty so their critical systems can’t be controlled by outsiders.
The UK needs to follow suit.
PROTECT THE UK’S DIGITAL BACKBONE
Tell your MP to support the Early Day Motion calling for a UK Digital Sovereignty strategy.
Take ActionWhat’s the problem?
Many countries – including the UK – are over reliant on a handful of tech companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle and Google. Now Palantir is pushing its way in as well. This is bad for the UK in a number of ways.
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Stop Trump’s Kill Switch
Sign the petition to demand UK Digital Sovereignty.
These companies spend millions on persuade the UK government to buy their services. The proprietary nature of their software means that public services get locked in to using them, wasting billions of taxpayers’ money.
Big Tech also lobbies government to implement laws and policies that are favourable to them. In recent years, the tech lobby has pressed hard to halt AI regulation, limit data protection, and reduce the impact of competition law.
Even systems that are technically secure are strategically fragile if a foreign company or power can pull the plug. If the UK got into an argument today with Trump – over Greenland, Israel, or trade – then Trump could swiftly close down the UK’s government, by closing down US owned IT and Cloud systems.
This is not theoretical: Trump has already done exactly this to the International Criminal Court, whose Microsoft email systems were closed and electronic banking sanctioned.
What needs to change
MPs have taken action against threats posed by the use of Chinese technology, but they need to do more to challenge the UK’s dependence on other foreign-controlled companies for the systems that underpin our democracy, economy, and national security.
This has become even more urgent now that the US government is openly operating outside of international law.
We don’t have to rely on Big Tech. There is an alternative to proprietary companies that want to control and profit from the NHS and UK public services.
We can:
- Use open-source software that the UK can control.
- Make sure critical systems can’t be switched off by someone else.
- Diversify suppliers – include more UK companies that helps grow our economy.
What would digital sovereignty give us?
ECONOMIC GROWTH
Digital sovereignty means diversifying the companies who provide government services, meaning more jobs and skills in the UK.
SECURITY
Digital sovereignty means that foreign states can’t push pressure on corporations to harm the UK.
INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION
Digital sovereignty means that countries can co-operate as equal partners.
BENEFITING EVERYONE
Developing and sharing open source technology can bring benefits to other countries.
What do we mean by open source products?
Open source products use code that is made public and can be used, modified and shared by other people. The benefits of this are:
MORE SECURE
The government doesn’t have to rely on a company’s claims about their products – bugs and flaws can be found and fixed by a community of users.
CHEAPER IN THE LONG TERM
Governments aren’t locked into using one company, they can choose who maintains or improves a product. They don’t have to start from scratch if they change vendor.
PUBLIC MONEY, PUBLIC CODE
This can be shared across government services, with the public or other countries.
NO KILL SWTICH
Even if a company goes bankrupt or disappears, open-source software can keep running and be maintained by others.
MORE TRANSPARENT
Open source lets anyone inspect how software and algorithms works. It makes public services more transparent and builds public trust.
Case study: No more Palantirs
Palantir is a controversial spy tech firm that helps governments spy on their citizens. It tracks people – including through their medical records – to help ICE carry out mass deportations. It’s complicit in war crimes in Gaza. And, inexplicably, this is the company that the UK government has given multiple contracts to in the NHS, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the police.
Palantir was represented by Peter Mandelson’s PR firm, Global Counsel, which recently went bust following revelations of the former peer’s close association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Fresh questions are being asked about Mandelson’s role in Palantir’s recent billion pound contract with the MoD. Mandelson was recently arrested for misconduct in public office.
Palantir should have no place in providing services to the NHS, the MoD or the police. But even if the government does the right thing and ends its contracts, we cannot replace them with another tech company that puts profits before people.
We need to change the system so that future Palantirs don’t get their hands on UK public services.
We need standards in place not just about lobbying and corruption but also about the type of tech the government buys so that we are not vulnerable to proprietary companies.
