Reform UK has announced plans to overhaul the UK's data protection landscape, pledging to scrap current privacy rules in favour of a "light-touch" regulatory model designed to cut business red tape.
Under the proposal, the UK's existing framework - which is modelled on the European Union's (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - would be replaced by a system inspired by New Zealand's privacy legislation. While both approaches protect personal information, they differ greatly in how they structure rules, enforce penalties, and handle specific requirements.
Criticism of current regime
Speaking ahead of a formal announcement on Wednesday (26 August), Reform Treasury spokesperson Robert Jenrick criticised the current regime for hindering domestic enterprise.
"Ten years after the Brexit referendum, we should not still be following ridiculous EU privacy laws that hurt British businesses," Jenrick said, arguing that existing rules have "strangled small businesses and tech firms alike in a web of unnecessary regulation". The data protection overhaul forms part of a broader, pro-business economic package put forward by the party.
Broader economic package
Reform said it would change the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) to ensure parents and grandparents can put up to £250,000 into their child or grandchild's small business and receive an income tax rebate of 50% and exemption from capital gains tax if they hold the investment for three years.
The party has also announced promises to reverse the rise in employer national insurance contributions and changes to inheritance tax on farms while introducing a "hard work bonus" that scraps income tax on overtime.
Political reaction
Party leader Nigel Farage said: "Small businesses are the beating heart of our economy, yet they have been suffocated by years of punishing taxes, suffocating EU red tape and a big-state obsession that rewards dependency over hard work."
"While the establishment parties drive small firms to the brink of closure, Reform UK is offering a bold, common-sense rescue plan," he added.
A Labour spokesperson said: "First Reform want to rip up the Online Safety Act which keeps kids safe online. Now they plan to scrap vital safeguards that protect people's private data. These unworkable and unserious plans are just a desperate attempt to distract from Nigel Farage's secret £5 million 'gift' from a Thai-based crypto billionaire."
They added: "With Andy Burnham's leadership, Labour is backing small businesses, reviving our high streets and driving growth in every postcode."
Shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride said the announcement was "a mixture of already-made promises and half-baked schemes that collapse on contact with reality".
He added: "Reform's policy on overtime has already been exposed as an unfunded shambles. Their VAT registration plans present another multibillion-pound black hole, inevitably meaning more taxes or more borrowing, and there is little detail on how their proposals to scrap GDPR would work."
