The Government is committed to safeguarding the UK’s elections and already has established systems and processes in place, to protect the democratic integrity of the UK.

The Government has established the Defending Democracy Taskforce, which has a mandate to safeguard our democratic institutions and processes from the full range of threats, including digitally manipulated content. The Taskforce is an enduring government function which is ensuring we have a robust system in place to rapidly respond to any threats during election periods, including novel threats from artificial intelligence (AI).

The new digital imprints regime, introduced by the Elections Act 2022, will increase the transparency of digital political advertising, including AI-generated material.

Additionally, it is already an election offence for a person to make a false statement about a candidate which provides a reasonable check and balance against malicious smear campaigns.

The threat to democracy from artificial intelligence was discussed at the AI Safety Summit in November 2023, reinforcing the Government’s commitment to international collaboration on this shared challenge.

We have a tradition of robust political debate and freedom of speech in our democracy. Policy or political arguments - both online and offline - which can be rebutted by rival campaigners or the press as part of the normal course of political debate should not be regulated. It is a matter for voters to decide whether they consider such arguments/claims to be accurate.

The new digital imprints regime, introduced by the Elections Act 2022, will increase the transparency of digital political advertising, by requiring those promoting eligible digital campaigning material targeted at the UK electorate to include an imprint with their name and address.

We are working to ensure we are ready to respond to the full range of threats to our democratic processes, including through the Defending Democracy Taskforce, and the Government regularly meets with social media companies to understand the policies and processes they have in place.

Government policy on countering mis and disinformation is a matter for the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology. However, the Government as a whole is of course committed to protecting our democratic processes from the risks posed by disinformation.

The review into the 2022 unrest in Leicester is independent, subject to the Terms of Reference, which will be made available once the remaining panel members have been appointed. In brief, the review will:

• establish the facts of what took place over the period of unrest;
• present an analysis of the causes of the unrest;
• make recommendations for preventing similar events arising in future; and
• set out proposals and ideas for strengthening social cohesion locally.

As an independent review, the exact avenues of investigation and assessment will for the panel to determine. The review seeks to strengthen community cohesion in the city; the independent experts will hear from a wide range of people and voices from across the city and beyond, and they will take steps to ensure that all communities are fairly represented and heard.