The UK seems deeply divided over its stance on technology

At some point or another, its ‘special’ ties with the US may intervene

- MIHIR SHARMA

Last week, Keir Starmer proudly told an audience of engineers and investors at a London tech conference that the UK was “the third largest technology economy in the world,” and that half of all startup investment in Europe flowed to Britain.

And then, in the same speech, the prime minister gave tech companies a three-month deadline to prevent children’s phones from sending or receiving explicit images. He followed this up by announcing a social-media ban for under-16s.

Starmer is responding to what voters—and a cohort of his lawmakers—want. They would welcome a more adversarial approach to aspects of the tech revolution that they believe harm their children and endanger Britain’s democracy. But this sits uncomfortably with the government’s broader ‘tech forward’ posture, which seems to position that sector—and AI in particular—as central to the UK’s growth revival. Starmer has promised to deliver “the best state partner for tech entrepreneurs anywhere in the world.” When his government launched an AI Opportunities Action Plan, it claimed that £14 billion had been committed by the giants of Silicon Valley in response.

The PM is right that Britain’s vibrant tech environment sets it apart from European peers. But that edge depends, in the end, on a stable flow of foreign capital—especially from the owners and funders of the very platforms and companies over which Whitehall wants to assert control.