Conservatives response to Keir Starmer's AI speech

Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Industry and Technology, Alan Mak MP said:

“The Conservatives' support for AI created the conditions for business and innovation to make the UK's AI industry the third largest in the world.

“Whether it is closer alignment to the EU, a £1.66 billion Jobs Tax or yet more regulation and quangos, Labour's big state approach will suffocate innovation, it is an analogue government in a digital age.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

• Labour's employer National Insurance Jobs Tax will cost businesses in the digital sector £1.66 billion. There are 1.84 million workers in the digital sector. The NICs increase will cost £900 per worker, bringing the cost to £1.66 billion (DSIT, Economic Estimates: Employment in the Digital Sector, 12 September 2024, link; Institute for Fiscal Studies, Autumn Budget 2024, 30 October 2024, link).

• Labour scrapped £1.3 billion of funding that would have funded Britain's first exascale supercomputer and the AI Research Resource. Labour scrapped £800 million for Britain's first exascale supercomputer which would have been instrumental in the development of AI and £500 million for AI Research Resource which funds computing power for AI (The Guardian, 2 August 2024, link).