ORG calls for UK to develop a digital sovereignty strategy

The Open Rights Group (ORG) is calling for MPs to support a cross-party amendment to the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill (CSR) that would require the government to develop a digital sovereignty strategy. Tabled by Liberal Democrat MP Victoria Collins and backed by Labour and Green MPs, the strategy aims to secure the independence of the UK's critical infrastructure.

The campaign responds to growing geopolitical uncertainty and the UK's overreliance on US technology companies. Because the US holds sanction powers that can block corporate services, a deterioration in bilateral relations could allow the US to leverage its dominance over UK infrastructure. In addition, these proprietary systems lock public bodies in, inflating costs, while profits are extracted from the UK economy. Concerns were also raised about firms such as Palantir, Microsoft and AWS. The Science, Innovation and Technology Committee called the public sector's expanding reliance on overseas providers of digital and technology a weakness for adversaries to exploit. 

ORG argue that the proposed strategy would evaluate and mitigate risks related to foreign interference, vendor lock-in, and insecure supply chains. Rather than promoting isolationism, it seeks to guarantee resilient access to essential digital services while boosting domestic jobs, open-source software, and competitive markets.

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