Protection of personal data

Data Protection Bill [Lords] – in a Public Bill Committee at 9:25 am on 13 March 2018.

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Question proposed, That the clause stand part of the Bill.

Photo of David Hanson David Hanson Labour, Delyn

With this it will be convenient to discuss new clause 12— Right to protection of personal data—

“(1) A person (“P”) has the right to protection of personal data concerning him or her.

(2) Personal data must be processed fairly for specified purposes as set out in the GDPR, and in accordance with the provisions, exceptions and derogations of this Act; and on the basis of the consent of P or some other legitimate basis.

(3) The Information Commissioner shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with the rights contained within this section.”

This new clause would incorporate Article 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Protection of personal data) into the Bill.

Photo of Liam Byrne Liam Byrne Shadow Minister (Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) (Digital Economy)

New clause 12, which I tabled with other Opposition members of the Committee, seeks to achieve something very simple: to incorporate article 8 of the EU charter of fundamental rights into British law. It is beyond dispute that both sides of the House share the objective of ensuring friction-free trade with our neighbour, the European Union, over the years to come. The role of this Bill in enabling that trade is of fundamental significance. Something like 70% of our exports of goods and services rely on the smooth transfer of data, and we know that the European data economy will be worth something like £643 billion by 2020. Despite all the efforts of the Secretary of State for International Trade, the reality is that the EU data economy, sitting next door to us, remains one of the most important, if not the most important, global markets from which we should aspire to profit over the years to come.

One of the great risks of Brexit is that technology firms will relocate, which is already beginning to take place. Many such firms will choose to headquarter in the Republic of Ireland. It is therefore in everybody’s interest that our trade and data protection regimes allow the smooth export of digitally enabled services. I hope that is not a contentious point.

In new clause 12, we propose to incorporate into British law what is, in effect, at the cutting edge of global data protection measures. It is not a trivial or frivolous new clause. Her Majesty’s Opposition did not make it up; it was crafted with techUK—an organisation that represents 950 companies, which employ something like 800,000 people and make up about half of the UK tech industry. When techUK proposes a fundamental measure of reform, it is important that we listen.

When we leave the European Union, we will need to agree with it an adequacy agreement by which it recognises the data protection regime in this country as adequate and therefore indicates that it is permissible for us to share data across the continental borders. The question, therefore, is how do we put that adequacy agreement beyond any doubt, not just for the immediate years after Brexit but for the decades to come? We know that trade will be fundamental to the health and wellbeing of our economy over many, many years. Let us put the data sharing regime between us and the European Union beyond doubt, not just for the short term but for the long term. Failure to get an adequacy agreement could arguably be fatal to the British economy. We simply cannot consider a shred of risk to that adequacy agreement. I hope that, having looked at this amendment and appreciated some of the refinements we made in the other place, the Government will decide that they will not put dogma in the way of agreeing to it. It is too important to leave to doubt.

In the debate on clause 1, I said that this principle was all the more important, because right hon. and hon. Members are being asked to agree to a Bill that does not feature the GDPR, which it seeks to incorporate into British law. Hon. Members can look it up if they like, but the Government have not set it out in a schedule or anywhere else. The fact that the Bill does not include the GDPR makes it all the more important that the House agrees a series of principles that are good now and for the future. Principles are paramount, and in this Bill the principle of privacy is first among equals.

The question of privacy is not disputed. It is a principle that has been agreed by our own Supreme Court in a recent case that was brought by the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis), who is now the Secretary of State for Brexit. Together with my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich East (Tom Watson), he brought the case of David Davis and others v. Secretary of State for the Home Department to the High Court, which confirmed the right of privacy in this country. This is not something that is necessarily party political; this is something on which there is strong cross-party consensus. These principles will become all the more important as the EU (Withdrawal) Bill is given effect because the Bill has thousands of ideas and proposals but kills off only one piece of legislation: the EU charter of fundamental rights.

A British tradition helped shape the EU charter of fundamental rights. We are the country of the Magna Carta and we are the country that helped craft the European convention on human rights after world war two to ensure there was never a return to the horrors of the 1930s and 1940s. Our lawyers played a fundamental role in shaping the EU charter of fundamental rights, but now, in the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, the Government decide to kill off the whole thing.

In killing off the whole thing, and in particular article 8—the fundamental foundational right to privacy—we create a new risk to keeping in lockstep the data protection regime in this country and the data protection regime in the European Union. If we bring that into doubt, we jeopardise an adequacy agreement for the future. I fear that, by setting their face against this new clause 12, the Government are, in some way and for some reason, trying to preserve the illusion of harmony between our regime and the regime of the European Union in order to camouflage the flexibility that might allow it to depart from regulatory harmonisation in the years to come. To coin a phrase, they are trying to have their cake and eat it.

That is not a reasonable position. The Minister will reassure us that that is not the intention of Her Majesty’s Government today. No doubt, she will tell us there is no will to try and win a race to the bottom in the data protection regime and many of us may be sympathetic to her position, as she is quite famously a reasonable Minister. However, the Tory party is not a stable place and the worry on all parts is not only how long the Minister will enjoy her office but what will come after her and what Government will come after this Government. There will be Governments of many colours over the course of the next 70 or 80 years and in this Committee we do not want to risk leaving unfettered a future Government who may take a less reasonable position than the famously reasonable Minister. That is why we want to move the incorporation of article 8 into British law.

We currently have a Bill without a data protection instrument and without clear data protection principles. That is a high-risk situation when, today, we have a low-risk regime. Nobody is particularly troubled by the current privacy regimes; we have been operating under article 8 of the EU charter of fundamental rights for some time and, certainly, no arguments I have heard suggest that it is troublesome in any way. What is wrong with continuing with it?

When we first crafted this new clause, there were some issues to which we were alert. A number of noble peers expressed a concern that we were creating too absolutist a right, a right without balancing test and provisions. That has been corrected in the new clause presented to this Committee today. We would therefore like to press it to a vote, as we want to ensure this fundamental right is part and parcel of British law for the years to come. It de-risks an adequacy agreement for data protection for the future. We have enjoyed the provisions of article 8 for some years, and there is no reason to suggest that they may be more troublesome in the years ahead. We do not think the Government want to depart from a harmonisation of regulations in this area over the years to come so the flexibility that this Bill currently offers will not be taken up. Let us put the matter beyond dispute and beyond doubt and let us incorporate article 8 into the Bill.

Photo of David Hanson David Hanson Labour, Delyn

I remind Members—particularly new Members—that new clause 12 is being debated now, but will not be voted on, if Members wish to have a vote, until we have completed consideration of the Bill. Today’s debate is on clause 2 and new clause 12, but the vote on the new clause will come later.

Photo of Brendan O'Hara Brendan O'Hara Shadow SNP Spokesperson (Culture and Media)

I rise in support of new clause 12, for two reasons. With the Bill as it stands, we see an erosion of the rights of UK citizens in a range of areas. This is particularly important because, as drafted, the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, eliminates important rights that are protected by article 8 which would otherwise constrain Ministers’ ability to erode the fundamental data protection rights that we currently enjoy.

On top of that, it is essential that, post-Brexit, the United Kingdom has an adequacy agreement with the rest of the European Union. As we have heard from the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill, if the United Kingdom fails to secure an adequacy agreement, I fear there will be a flight of high-tech, high-skilled jobs from the United Kingdom to other parts of the European Union.

For the UK to be able to take full advantage of this vital continued free flow of data with the rest of the European Union post Brexit, the most straightforward route is an adequacy agreement. As I have heard argued before, that decision is not as straightforward as one would hope. An adequacy agreement is not simply in the Commission’s gift to give; it is a legal judgment.

If I could point again to the data protection lawyer, Rosemary Jay, who said that the EU had to go through a legislative process, and it was simply not in the EU’s gift to do this in any informal way. The Commission has to go through a legislative process in order to give the UK an adequacy agreement. There are further complications because, with an adequacy agreement, the European Commission has to consider a variety of issues, such as the rule of law, respect for human rights, and legislation on national public security and criminal law. That being so, as it currently stands, the Investigatory Powers Act may well prove a block to achieving adequacy. The Act has already been accused of violating the European Union’s charter of fundamental rights. Eduardo Ustaran, the internationally recognised expert, has said:

“What the UK needs to do is convince the Commission—and perhaps one day the European Court of Justice—that the Investigatory Powers Act is compatible with fundamental rights. That’s a tall order”.

While I can understand that the Government are absolutely desperate to secure an adequacy agreement, the harsh reality is that, in these challenging circumstances and with this challenging legal process, it is not going to be as simple as perhaps we had hoped.

No one wants this situation to arise; it is absolutely essential that we have this deal, but, as GDPR evolves over time—as it surely will—in order to maintain that adequacy status, should we attain it, the UK will have to keep its data protection law in line with GDPR. The EU charter of fundamental rights and freedoms is absolutely central to EU data protection law. If we exclude ourselves now from article 8, the chances of achieving adequacy are seriously jeopardised, and the chances of maintaining adequacy are further jeopardised. I urge the Government please to consider the long and short-term consequences of not accepting this new clause. Without article 8, I cannot see how we will achieve or maintain adequacy, and if we cannot achieve and maintain adequacy, the consequences for UK high-tech businesses are unfathomable.

Photo of Darren Jones Darren Jones Labour, Bristol North West

Thank you, Mr Hanson. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship on my first Bill Committee.

I rise to support the comments made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill about the importance of adequacy and its link to article 8 of the charter of fundamental rights, and therefore in support of new clause 12. The Bill is pragmatic in seeking to bring GDPR principles into areas of non-EU competence and to provide a legislative parking space for GDPR if the UK leaves the European Union. However, we cannot get away from the fact that GDPR in itself has a legal basis that is anchored to the European charter of fundamental rights. In trying to copy and paste that level of protection into UK law, we must therefore also bring with it the fundamental rights to which it is attached.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights shares that view. Its report, following the passing of the Bill in the other place, was clear that article 8 of the charter is a fundamental legal right to the principles of data protection and privacy. It noted that with third countries such as Canada—the EU-Canada agreement, which this Government may seek to replicate with the European Union—the Grand Chamber of the European Union looked at article 8 of the European charter of fundamental rights when deciding on adequacy. Therefore, it would be sensible to assume that the same approach will be taken with the UK when it becomes a third country in the coming months.

There was a broad conversation about this issue in a general debate before Christmas on data protection, before the Bill was laid. Ministers on the Treasury Benches said that the Department for Exiting the European Union would set out why we did not need to include article 8 of the charter, given that it is present in other areas of UK law. On 5 December the same Department released its analysis, which acknowledged that article 8 of the charter had “no direct equivalent” in the European convention on human rights, and referred back instead to the Data Protection Bill.

Photo of Mike Wood Mike Wood Conservative, Dudley South 9:45, 13 March 2018

The hon. Gentleman is selectively quoting from that analysis. As he will see, it also says that the European Court of Human Rights —I think that the case concerned Finland—held that article 8 of the European convention on human rights encompassed data protection rights that were protected in article 8 of the charter.

Photo of Darren Jones Darren Jones Labour, Bristol North West

Of course the hon. Gentleman is right that the article includes principles of data protection, but we are trying to make the Government’s job in seeking the decision on adequacy with the European Union as easy as possible. This seems an easy way to facilitate that. Clearly, there is a dereliction of fundamental rights through not copying and pasting this across into UK law. Although there are data protection principles under the European convention on human rights, article 8 states:

“Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.”

That does not sound very modern or digital to me. Although rights flow from that, the charter rights on communications—specifically electronic communications— seem much more fit for the future. I welcome the Secretary of State’s comments that the Bill seeks to make our country fit for the future. Let us rely not on a world of manual correspondence, but on one of electronic communications.

The new clause is not ideological; it does not seek to rebalance power between business controllers and individual citizens. It merely seeks to replicate what is in law today: a basic and fundamental human right that seems to me and to others to be perfectly sensible. Only yesterday, I was in Brussels with the European Scrutiny Committee, meeting Mr Barnier. He talked positively about wanting to get agreement on data adequacy, given its importance—not least because 11% of global data flows come to the UK, 70% of which are with the EU. It would be a disaster for this country if we did not have adequacy, so let us make our job easier to effect that shared aim across the Floor of the Committee and with our counterparts in Europe of seeking a decision on adequacy. Let us put this new clause into the Bill, so that we maintain the position that our data subjects have today: a fundamental right, which is in the European charter of fundamental rights, and in the future will be in this Bill.

Photo of Margot James Margot James The Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport

I thank speakers for their thoughtful contributions. I share many of their concerns, as do the Government, particularly with regard to adequacy, which I will talk about in more detail. I think we are all agreed that after Britain leaves the European Union we must be able to negotiate an adequacy agreement for the free flow of data between us and the EU. That is absolutely essential.

First, the GDPR implements the right to data protection and more. It is limited in scope, but the Bill also implements data protection rights on four areas beyond GDPR. It applies GDPR standards to personal data beyond EU competence, such as personal data processed for consular purposes or national security. Secondly, the Bill applies the standards to non-computerised and unstructured records held by public authorities that the GDPR ignores. Thirdly, the Bill regulates data processed for law enforcement purposes. Fourthly, it covers data processed by the intelligence services.

There is no doubt in our minds that we have fully implemented the right to data protection in our law and gone further. Clause 2 is designed to provide additional reassurance. Not only will that be clear in the substance of the legislation, but it is on the face of the Bill. The Bill exists to protect individuals with regard to the processing of all personal data. I think this is common ground. We share Opposition Members’ concern for the protection of personal data. It must be processed lawfully, individuals have rights, and the Information Commissioner will enforce them.

New clause 12 creates a new and free-standing right, which is the source of our concern. Subsection (1) is not framed in the context of the Bill. It is a wider right, not constrained by the context of EU law. However, the main problem is that it is not necessary. It is not that we disagree with the thinking behind it, but it is not necessary and might have unforeseen consequences, which I will come to.

Article 6 of the treaty on European Union makes it clear that due regard must be had to the explanations of the charter when interpreting and applying the European charter of fundamental rights. The explanations to article 8 of the charter confirm that the right to data protection is based on the right to respect for private life in article 8 of the ECHR. The European Court of Human Rights has confirmed that article 8 of the ECHR encompasses personal data protection. The Government have absolutely no plans to withdraw from the European Court of Human Rights.

The new right in new clause 12 would create confusion if it had to be interpreted by a court. For rights set out in the Human Rights Act, there is a framework within which to operate. The Human Rights Act sets out the effect of a finding incompatible with rights. However, new clause 12 says nothing about the consequences of potential incompatibility with this new right to the protection of personal data.

Photo of Liam Byrne Liam Byrne Shadow Minister (Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) (Digital Economy)

The Minister is rehearsing the argument that was made in the other place before the requirements that we put into our amendments. She can see as well as me that the new clause was rewritten so that, under subsection (2), it is to be interpreted only

“in accordance with the provisions, exceptions and derogations of this Act;”.

So the idea that we are creating some kind of new and unfettered right is nonsense. We had this debate in the other place. We made refinements and they have been presented in the new clause.

If there is no dispute about the importance of adequacy and of putting it beyond risk, what is the problem with putting the question beyond doubt and dispute and incorporating the same foundation that is enjoyed in the European Union into British law?

Photo of Margot James Margot James The Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport

New clause 12 takes article 8 of the charter outside that context and creates a free-standing right. That is the potential for confusion. New clause 12 says nothing about the consequences of incompatibility with the new right to the protection of personal data. That would create, legal, regulatory and economic uncertainty. We are endeavouring not just to ensure adequacy after we leave the European Union, but to go beyond the mere requirement for adequacy, as the Prime Minister set out in her speech almost two weeks ago.

Further, how would the courts approach other legislation in the light of this new right? One has to ask how they would approach other rights. Could this new right be balanced against other rights?

Photo of Liam Byrne Liam Byrne Shadow Minister (Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) (Digital Economy)

It is not a new right; it is a roll-over of an existing right. I have not heard of a case prosecuted in British courts where there was a problem with balancing the right that we currently enjoy with anything else. We simply seek to roll this right over into the future.

Photo of Margot James Margot James The Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport

That brings me on to my other point: not only does this roll-over, as the right hon. Gentleman puts it, threaten to create confusion and undermine other rights, but it is unnecessary. The charter of fundamental rights merely catalogues rights that already exist in EU law; it is not the source of those rights. The rights, including to data protection, which is, importantly, what we are here to debate, arise from treaties, EU legislation and case law. They do not arise from the European charter of fundamental rights, so we argue that the new clause is completely unnecessary.

Photo of Darren Jones Darren Jones Labour, Bristol North West

The right exists in its own right in the European charter of fundamental rights. That is why European Courts refer to it when making decisions. If the Courts did not think that it was an established right in itself, they would refer to the other sources of legislation that the Minister mentioned. It therefore must, as a matter of logic, be a legal right that is fundamental; otherwise, the Courts would not refer to it.

On the Minister’s original comments about the consequences of the new clause, I think they are clear in the drafting. Subsection (2), as my right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill said, states that processing personal data must comply with GDPR and the derogations in the Bill, and the consequences of subsection (3) are that the Information Commissioner should ensure compliance. In ensuring compliance, the commissioner will look to GDPR and the Bill to understand the consequences of a breach of a fundamental right that already exists.

Photo of Margot James Margot James The Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The source of the rights that we are discussing are EU legislation and case law. Those rights will be protected in UK domestic law after we leave the European Union by the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill. We have fully protected the right to data protection in our law. We have considered new clause 12 carefully, and it creates a new right. As I said, the arguments are well rehearsed, which is why we created clause 2 with the agreement of the Opposition spokespeople in the House of Lords.

The Government are determined to ensure the future free flow of data when we leave the European Union. We have heard much about the importance of, and the need for, an adequacy agreement, and I agree with everybody who has spoken on that. The general consensus is that, to achieve that, we need to faithfully implement the GDPR, and avoid the courts finding parts of the GDPR potentially incompatible with a new right. If that happened, rather than enabling the free flow of data, we would risk undermining it.

Twelve countries have negotiated adequacy arrangements with the European Union, including Canada, Israel, Uruguay, New Zealand and the United States. None of those countries was obliged by the EU Commission to put the charter of fundamental rights into their law, so I think Members can rest assured that the new clause is entirely unnecessary to achieve adequacy on our departure.

Photo of Brendan O'Hara Brendan O'Hara Shadow SNP Spokesperson (Culture and Media)

Does the Minister not accept that the countries she just listed were in an entirely different situation from the one that the United Kingdom finds itself in at the moment, where it is withdrawing from, rather than joining? One cannot compare like with like, because they are two entirely different situations. I believe that we are putting ourselves outside the scope of the GDPR and of achieving adequacy. The countries that she talked about took many years to achieve an adequacy agreement. The United Kingdom does not have that time. If the United Kingdom does not achieve adequacy on day one post-Brexit, does she not agree that the economy of the United Kingdom will suffer greatly as a result?

Photo of Margot James Margot James The Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport 10:00, 13 March 2018

I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman. I share his concern that we need to negotiate an adequacy agreement effectively; I am at one with him on that matter. For the reasons I have outlined, I do not believe that, if our clause is passed unamended, it will undermine that right when we come to negotiate an agreement. He made the point that those other countries are in a different position. They are already third countries in relation to us, and will be so when we leave. We will become a third country when we leave the European Union. I accept that the situation is different, but it puts us at an advantage. We are incorporating the GDPR in its entirety into UK legislation, and I assure the hon. Gentleman that we have that safeguard.

Future free flow of data is absolutely at the top of our agenda for the forthcoming EU negotiations. As I said earlier, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister made that clear in her Mansion House speech two weeks ago. We want to secure an agreement with the EU that provides stability and confidence for EU and UK businesses and individuals, and ensures we achieve our aims of maintaining and developing the UK’s strong trading and economic links with the European Union.

Ultimately, as some Opposition Members said, importing text from the EU charter of fundamental rights is unnecessary. The general principles of EU law will be retained when we leave the EU via the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill for the purposes of the interpretation of the retained EU law. The GDPR will be retained. Indeed, the Bill will firmly entrench it in our law. The right to the protection of personal information is a general principle of EU law, and has been recognised as such since the 1960s. The withdrawal Bill requires our courts to interpret the GDPR consistently with the general principle reflected in article 8 and retained CJEU case law, so far as it is possible to do so.

Photo of Darren Jones Darren Jones Labour, Bristol North West

Does the Minister recognise that, under the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, the application of the EU acquis—EU law—is based on legislation that existed before the point of exit? It will not continue to apply to new legislation and developments after the point of exit. The new clause needs to be in the Bill to maintain that position for the future; we must not just look back into the past.

Photo of Margot James Margot James The Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill fully protects the rights to data protection in our law. As I said earlier, we are seeking not only adequacy after Brexit, but a continuing role in conjunction with the bodies in Europe that govern the GDPR, with the idea that we continue to contribute our expertise and benefit from theirs.

Photo of Liam Byrne Liam Byrne Shadow Minister (Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) (Digital Economy)

I am afraid we have heard a very weak argument against new clause 12. The Minister sought to prosecute two lines of argument: first, that new clause 12 risks confusion in the courts; and, secondly, that it is not needed. Let me take each in turn.

First, there can be no risk of confusion because this is not a new right. It is a right we already enjoy today, and our courts are well practised in balancing it with the other rights we enjoy. We are simply seeking to roll over the status quo into the future to put beyond doubt an adequacy agreement not just in the immediate years after we leave the European Union but in the decades that will follow.

Secondly, the Minister sought to persuade us that the new clause was not needed, and she had a couple of different lines of attack. First, she said that the source of our new protections would be the incorporation of EU case law and legislation as enshrined by the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill. Of course, that is simply not applicable to this case, because the one significant part of European legislation that the withdrawal Bill explicitly does not incorporate is the European charter of fundamental rights. The Minister slightly gave the game away when she read out the line in her briefing note that said that the rights we currently have in EU law would be enshrined and protected “so far as it is possible to do so.” That is exactly the kind of risk we are seeking to guard against.

As noble peers argued in the other place, the challenge with incorporating the GDPR into British law is that this is a piece of regulation and legislation that reflects the world of technology as it is today. It is not the first bit of data protection legislation and it will not be the last. At some point in the years to come, there will be a successor piece of legislation to this Bill and the courts’ challenge will be to make judgments that interpret an increasingly outmoded and outdated piece of legislation. We have to ensure that judgments made in the British courts and in the European courts remain in lockstep. If we lose that lockstep, we will jeopardise the future of an adequacy agreement. That will be bad for Britain, bad for British businesses and bad for technology jobs in all our constituencies.

The challenge we have with regulating in this particular field is that sometimes we have to be anticipatory in the way we structure regulations. Anyone who has spent any time with the British FinTech industry, which Ministers are keen to try and enhance, grow and develop for the years to come, will know that FinTech providers need to be able to test and reform bits of regulation in conjunction not only with the Information Commissioner but with other regulators such as the Financial Conduct Authority. For those regulators to be able to guarantee a degree of regulatory certainty, sometimes they will need to look beyond the letter of a particular piece of legislation, such as the Data Protection Bill when it becomes an Act, and reflect on the spirit of that legislation. The spirit is captured best by fundamental rights. The challenge we have is in the thousands of decisions that our regulators must take in the future. How do we put beyond doubt or dispute the preservation of regulatory lockstep with our single most important market next door?

The Uruguayan defence offered by the Minister will reassure few people. We should not be aspiring to the Uruguayan regime; we should be aspiring to something much deeper, more substantive and more harmonious. The Minister’s proposal will create a field day for lawyers. We all like lawyers; some of our Committee members are former lawyers—recovering lawyers in some cases. Lawyers should enjoy a profitable and successful future, but we in this House do not necessarily need to maximise their profit-making possibilities in the future. However, that is exactly what the Minister is doing by creating a pot pourri of legislation, which lawyers and judges will have to pick their way through. It is much simpler, much lower-risk, much safer and better for economic growth if we put beyond doubt, dispute and question the harmonisation of our data protection regime with our single most important market. That is why we need to incorporate article 8.

Photo of Darren Jones Darren Jones Labour, Bristol North West

I have a copy of the general data protection regulation here. Recital 1 on the first page states:

“The protection of natural persons in relation to the processing of personal data is a fundamental right. Article 8(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union—”.

Is it not the case, to use some imagery here, that at the moment the GDPR is built on a foundation as on page one of this fundamental right in the same way as a house is built on strong foundations? Are we now not seeking to build the same house but without the foundations? Does this risk us sinking our decision on adequacy?

Photo of Liam Byrne Liam Byrne Shadow Minister (Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) (Digital Economy)

My hon. Friend is right. He speaks with tremendous knowledge on this particular subject. There is a real risk that one of our most important industries will have its foundations wrecked by the inadequacies of this piece of legislation. There is no risk of confusion, there is no creation of a new and unchecked, unfettered right. We can draw no comfort from the EU (Withdrawal) Bill. There is a great risk of regulatory confusion and divergence over the years to come. I simply cannot understand why the Government would seek to put dogma and not the future protection of the British technology industry first.

This is not a trivial or frivolous issue; it has been put forward by the industry association representing half of technology jobs in this country. I hope that the Committee is persuaded by these arguments. We will seek to prosecute these arguments in a vote, at your discretion, Mr Hanson, but I hope that before we get to that point, the Government will see sense and accept the amendment.

Photo of David Hanson David Hanson Labour, Delyn

As I said, the vote on new clause 12, should there be one, will take place at a later date.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause 2 accordingly ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 3