Data Protection & Digital Information Bill Is No More

The 2024 UK General Election is fast approaching. Two debates between the various party leaders/deputy leaders have already taken place. The Polls suggest that we are likely to have a new political party in charge of the Country. It would be reasonable to expect that the effect of a General Election would be felt after the election has concluded rather than before. That is not strictly the case, however.

In previous blogs, the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (DPDIB) has been discussed (see articles at the bottom of this page).

The Bill has been through a number of readings in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The sixth day of the Committee stage in the House of Lords, which is about half to two thirds of the way through the procedure for turning a Bill into a live Statute in the House of Lords, took place on 22 April 2024.

The first step in a UK General Election being called is for the residing Prime Minister to ask the King to dissolve the current Parliament. In 2024, the dissolution of Parliament took place on 30 May 2024. The net effect of this is that any partly reviewed Bill before Parliament is dropped due to the lack of Parliamentary time to see it through to a conclusion. This was true of the DPDIB, which was dropped by Parliament on 24 May 2024, and accordingly, as matters stand, the DPDIB will not now become a binding law.

That is not to say that it never will become binding. If the Tories manage to hold on to power, it is safe to assume that the DPDIB will be reintroduced and progressed. If the Tories do not hold onto power, it is likely that any new reigning Government will have different priorities to the Tories and accordingly the DPDIB may well end up as nothing more than a footnote in data protection history.