Government announces plan to replace GDPR with British data protection system

Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan says the “bureaucratic nature” of EU GDPR “is still limiting the potential of our businesses”

The Government “will be replacing GDPR (general data protection regulation) with our own business and consumer friendly British data protection system,” Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan has announced.

Making her speech at the ICC in Birmingham, she said the “bureaucratic nature” of EU GDPR “is still limiting the potential of our businesses”.

She added: “That is why today, conference, I am announcing that we will be replacing GDPR with our own business and consumer friendly British data protection system.”

Her comments received enthusiastic claps and cheers from those listening in the hall.

Ms Donelan said: “In a survey that my own department did, 50% of businesses told us that the EU’s mainly one-size-fits-all GDPR system had led to excessive caution amongst their staff when handling data.”

Churches, she said, had written to the department “pleading to us for change, so that they can just send out a newsletter to their own communities without worrying about breaching data rules. Conference this is mad”.

Smaller organisations and businesses “don’t have the resources or the money to navigate the regulatory minefield that is GDPR”, she said, adding: “And yet right now, in the main, they’re forced to follow this one-size-fits-all approach, the same one-size-fits-all approach that applies to multinational corporations.

“This is just not right and it is certainly not conservative.”

Ms Donelan said the Government’s proposals “will protect consumer privacy and keep their data safe, whilst retaining our data adequacy so businesses can of course trade freely”, adding “it will be simpler, it will be clearer for businesses to navigate”.

She went on: “Our new data protection plan will focus on growth, on common sense, on helping to prevent losses from cyber attacks and data breaches, while also protecting data privacy.

“This will allow us to reduce the needless regulation and business-stifling elements, while taking the best bits from other countries, to create a truly bespoke, British system of data protection.”

The change, she said, was “about simplification”, adding: “It is truly time that we seize this post-Brexit opportunity, that we unleash the future growth potential of British business.

“We can be the bridge across the Atlantic and operate as the world’s data hub.”

Published: 03/10/2022 by Radio NewsHub