Keir Starmer is leaving office with four unresolved policy headaches for the Andy Burnham prime minister transition, including a teen social media ban and unfinished talks with Brussels. Andy Burnham will have to decide how to handle both the domestic rules and the stalled EU files once he arrives in No. 10.
Starmer declared last month that under-16s will be kicked off social media, and he described it as drawing a “line in the sand” on teenage platform use. He had also teased curfews and VPN restrictions, but officials had no time to work out key details before the Makerfield by-election.
Burnham and the social media ban
Burnham has already suggested support for a ban on under-16s using social media. In January, he said, “I find myself agreeing with a lot of what [Conservative leader] Kemi Badenoch is saying about children and social media. It seems to me parents would welcome a cross-party consensus around much bolder action”.
That leaves the next prime minister with a policy he appears willing to back, but without a published tech policy platform to show how he would enforce it. A tech lobbyist said the industry is operating in the dark with Burnham, and Wednesday brought fresh pressure when Liz Kendall indicated in the House of Commons that Burnham has spoken to her.
House of Commons pressure
Almost 50 organizations signed a joint statement on Wednesday urging Burnham to “reset the narrative” and adopt “a more comprehensive and adaptive approach to online safety and AI regulation that tackles the profit-driven business model”. The list included the NSPCC, the Molly Rose Foundation and the Internet Watch Foundation.
At the same time, the pro-ban group Smartphone Free Childhood kept up a letter-writing campaign urging parents to thank MPs in advance for keeping up the fight. That leaves Burnham squeezed between groups pressing for tighter rules and the absence of detail on which services would fall inside any ban, or whether he would keep Starmer’s curfew and VPN ideas.
Brussels on July 22
Burnham also inherits Starmer’s year-long push with Brussels. The files include an agri-food agreement to ease trade in food and drink, a link between the EU and U.K. emissions trading systems, and a youth mobility scheme to make it easier for young people to live abroad.
The three deals were due to be concluded at a summit in Brussels on July 22, but that summit has been postponed. Until Burnham picks a new date, negotiators lack a deadline, and the youth mobility scheme remains the hardest of the three to settle.
