The government’s intention is to instead break any AI-related legislation up into smaller chunks. Nudification apps, for example, will be banned as part of the government’s new Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, AI chatbots are being looked at through a review of the Online Safety Act, while there will also need to be legislation for AI Growth Labs — testbeds where companies can experiment with their products before going to market.  

Asked about an AI bill by MPs on Dec. 3, Kendall said: “There are measures we will need to take to make sure we get the most on growth and deal with regulatory issues. If there are measures we need to do to protect kids online, we will take those. I am thinking about it more in terms of specific areas where we may need to act rather than a big all-encompassing bill.”

The team in Kendall’s department which looks at frontier AI regulation, meanwhile, has been reassigned, according to two people familiar with the team.

Polling by the Ada Lovelace Institute shows Labour’s leadership is out of sync with public views on AI, with 9 in 10 wanting an independent AI regulator with enforcement powers.  

“The public wants independent regulation,” said Ada Lovelace Director Gaia Marcus. “They prioritize fairness, positive social impacts and safety in trade-offs against economic gains, speed of innovation and international competition.” 

A separate study by Focal Data found that framing AI as a geopolitical competition also doesn’t resonate with voters. “They don’t want to work more closely with the United States on shared digital and tech goals because of their distrust of its government,” the research found. 

Political leadership must step in to bridge that gap, former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair wrote in a report last month. “Technological competitiveness is not a priority for voters because European leaders have failed to connect it to what citizens care about: their security, their prosperity and their children’s futures,” he wrote.  

For Starmer, who has struggled to connect with the voters, that will be a huge challenge.