Reform UK has been criticised for its new “unworkable” plans to scrap date protection laws if it ever gets into government.
The right-wing party will announce a set of “flagship policies” on Wednesday, including dropping GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) legislation which protects how personal information is used by organisations in the UK.
Reform’s Treasury spokesperson Robert Jenrick will unveil a plan to replace the current protections with a “light-touch style privacy law modelled on New Zealand”.
Ahead of his announcement, he said: “GDPR has strangled small businesses and tech firms alike in a web of unnecessary regulation.”
He added: “Ten years after the Brexit referendum we should not still be following ridiculous EU privacy laws that hurt British businesses.”
However a Labour Party spokesperson condemned the plans.
They 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.”
Reform has lost its dominant lead in the opinion polls in recent months amid heightened scrutiny over the party’s finances.
Farage triggered a by-election in his own constituency of Clacton in response to the criticism.
He was re-elected earlier this month after all other major parties pulled out of the political stunt.
The parliamentary probe into the £5 million donation – which he received from crpyto billionaire Christopher Harborne before the 2024 general election – has resumed upon Farage’s return to parliament.
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