Chi Onwurah, Shadow Minister for Culture & the Digital Economy, has slammed the government for ‘political posturing’ over the UK’s digital future.
In an exclusive interview, the Labour MP for Newcastle Central and former head of technology at Ofcom took aim at the government’s lack of progress in delivering broadband equality across the UK and accused them of shady tactics over ownership and use of consumer data.
“I’ve been incredibly disappointed with progress since I left Ofcom” she said, commenting on the recent calls for the break up of Openreach as being “not really about the new next generation access monopoly, but more about taking the heat off the Tory party.”
Following her election win to parliament in 2010, Onwurah was originally appointed as junior shadow minister for Business, Innovation and Skills by Ed Miliband in the same year. She was then promoted to Shadow Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills, as well as a Shadow Minister for Culture, Media and Sport by current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in September 2015.
Government’s Digital Economy Bill doesn’t answer the question “Who owns your data and why isn’t it you?” https://t.co/cscjVLN65I
— chi onwurah (@ChiOnwurah) September 14, 2016
Given her tech background she has been an outspoken critic of the government’s digital strategy on a number of issues and has publicly scrutinised the so called ‘snooper’s charter’ and more recently the trailing of Blockchain technology in the Department of Work & Pensions, saying she is “aghast at the lack of openness” of the trial.
Listen to the full interview below:
Listen on iTunes or Soundcloud
Read Chi’s speech on Industry 4.0 from a recent commons debate.
