Alex Hern 

Give UK citizens an online vote in the House of Lords, Labour told

A manifesto for technology from Labour Digital calls for open access to broadband, support for net neutrality, and direct online democracy
  
  

Ed Miliband appears on The Andrew Marr Show in the run-up to the Labour Party Conference.
Ed Miliband appears on The Andrew Marr Show in the run-up to the Labour party conference. Photograph: Handout/Getty Images

An influential Labour group has called for a fifth of all votes in the House of Lords to be devolved to citizens, who it says should vote online to directly influence legislation.

The recommendation – one of 82 in all – comes in a new report, Number One in Digital, produced by Labour Digital, a grassroots network of more than 300 digital professionals created by shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna to advise the party on technological policy.

Implementing all 82 recommendations could cost “up to £10bn” over the next five years, the report’s authors say, adding that it would add £63bn per year in value to the UK economy.

As well as calling for a revolution in how the internet is used in the democratic process – a recommendation the group admits is “more experimental” – the report also pushes Labour to commit to treating internet access as a basic utility, to strengthen the rights of citizens to control how their own data is used, and to streamline regulation affecting online startups in fields such as the sharing economy and financial technology.

The report argues that “questions must be raised over the efficacy of a representative democratic system that provides little official scope for realtime digital feedback in age where an MP, standing in central lobby, can read the tweet of a constituent who has just watched Prime Minister’s Questions on the BBC’s dedicated online democracy service.”

To counterbalance that, the report calls for 20% of the electoral college of the House of Lords to be allocated to the public, who would vote on legislation online and “be supported by an institutionalised briefing service”. Such a move would, the authors argue, “provide a channel to engage the electorate directly in decision-making. It would incentivise politicians to pay even closer attention to the popular impact of their decisions. It would also help to reposition the House of Lords as the most broadly-based forum for scrutiny of legislation.”

Faster connections

But before such measures can be taken, the report argues that Britain needs to reassess its targets for digital infrastructure. The current aim of the government is to extend superfast broadband to 95% of British premises by 2017, and to make access to standard broadband universal, but that aim – not yet achieved – would leave the UK lagging international leaders.

Instead, “the UK should target nationwide access to 1Gbps broadband in homes, businesses and public buildings, with 10Gbps services for tech-clusters, as early possible in the next parliament.” And, the group argues, access to the internet shouldn’t be restricted to those who can afford it.

“Government should assess the viability of providing free basic internet access to all citizens, possibly as a requirement for participation in 5G auctions, or targeted at children eligible for free school meals.” It also argues that BT should be mandated “to provide broadband services to homes without requiring a telephone line for voice calls.”

Focusing on the very infrastructure that enables a digital economy also means ensuring that it is kept open to all uses, and to that end the report says that “a Labour government should declare support for national and EU-level net neutrality.”

But one area that many technology workers will be questioning is the mild proposals for migration. The document addresses the UK’s dearth of qualified workers, quoting a Policy Exchange report which argues that visa regulations have “effectively shut the door to many of the best and brightest from around the world, and even to international students who have studied in the UK”. But the only proposal to counter the trend is that of a “one year ‘programmers’ passport’ whereby… digital skilled migrants from outside the EU may reside in the UK.”

Writing the foreword to the document, Labour’s policy co-ordinator, Jon Cruddas, says that he believes the party’s priority “is to make the UK the number one country in the digital revolution”.

“We will tackle concentrations of power, and make sure people have the skills and the abilities to take advantage of the internet,” Cruddas adds. “Labour in partnerships with business and workers, will build the new economy of the coming decade. But we will not do so with the old politics of command and control. As in the age of steam and the age of the railways, our new digital age is radically changing society.”

It’s the second such document in as many weeks, following in the footsteps of industry group TechUK’s manifesto. That matched calls by the Labour group for new leadership roles within the UK government in charge of promoting technology, as well as calling for the UK to be “a world leading domain in data protection.”

But it went much further in calling on the next government to reform migration policy to promote growth, demanding a “‘smart migration’ policy that allows high growth companies to tap in to the world’s best talent, alongside measures to strengthen the pipeline of home-grown skills.”

 

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