Cyber Security : UK General Election 2019 Edition

The following post is an analysis of Great British Political Party manifestos for the December 2019 election. It is not intended to show bias towards any one party over another. We thought that it would be an interesting exercise and analysis. We have decided to choose to analyse only the parties in Great Britain which have MPs sitting in the UK House of Commons prior to the December 2019 election. Other parties, including those currently without MPs and those in Northern Ireland were not analysed at this time. Although we will mention that those MPs from Northern Ireland are from the DUP and Sinn Féin. We also acknowledge the existence (and often good work) of independent candidates, which will have their own manifestos, often with a localised angle. Note that this was written on the eve of polling day of the December 2019 UK General Election.

Sources

In alphabetical order:

“Cyber” Occurrences - Quantitative Analysis

How many times does the word “cyber” occur in the manifestos?

  • Labour: 11 (in 107 pages)

  • LibDem: 3 (in 98 pages)

  • Tories: 2 (in 64 pages)

  • Plaid Cymru: 1 (in 45 pages)

  • Green: 0 (in 92 pages)

  • SNP: 0 (in 52 pages)

  • TIG: 0 (in 8 pages)

“Cyber” Occurrences - Qualitative Analysis

Labour: Although labour have 11 occurrences of the word cyber, do they seem to back that up with some relevant discussion? On page 45 they clearly state a line which looks like it was copied out of the Awen marketing handbook when talking about cyber-security: “Every aspect of our lives, from the NHS to our nuclear facilities, from transport systems to communications networks is vulnerable.” They go on to pledge to give greater powers and responsibilities to both the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the National Crime Agency (NCA) to reduce national cyber-risk and respond to cyber-attacks. This would be as part of a new “National Strategy on Cybercrime and Fraud.” Later in the manifesto (p100), in regards to national defence, they also pledge to review security challenges to Britain, including “hybrid, cyber and remote warfare.” Finally, back to the beginning of the manifesto they mention cyber-security as one of the challenges within the health sector.

LibDem: The LibDems have 3 occurrences of the word cyber in their manifesto, and the first occurs in the introductory section on page 9. They mention that Britain remaining within the European Union, and working with European partners will help to tackle the “big challenges that we face” including “cybercrime.” On page 91, in relation to national defence, they pledge to “Recognise the expansion of warfare into the cybersphere by investing in our security and intelligence services and acting to counter cyberattacks”

Tories: The Tories have 2 occurrences of the word cyber in their manifesto. The first, on page 19, is a pledge to create a National Cyber Crime Force and a National Crime Laboratory, although it is not clear exactly how this would differ from the initiatives and prerogatives of the NCSC and NCA. On page 53 they also pledge, in relation to national security, to adapt to new threats by investing more in cybersecurity and setting up a UK Space Command.

Plaid Cymru: Plaid has a single occurrence of the word cyber, and that is on page 43 of their manifesto. The page relates to Welsh and UK defence. They pledge to work with agencies “on cyber-defences to prevent technology attacks upon Wales and the rest of the United Kingdom.”

Cyber-related mentions - Qualitative Analysis

Although the Greens, SNP and TIG do not mention “cyber” in their manifestos, they do still mention areas which would impact the cyber-security landscape.

Greens: On page 39 of their manifesto, the Greens pledge to replace the Ministry of Defence (MoD) with a Ministry of Security and Peace (MoSP?), they would also close the Defence and Security Organisation (DSO) of the Department for International Trade (DIT). This seems to be to divert support and funding away from arms sales towards peace building activities and defence of the environment.

SNP: Pages 48 to 50 of the SNP manifesto discuss a variety of defence and security topics. They highlight the need for multi-lateral international co-operation, and pledge to support a Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), as well as peacebuilding and environmental initiatives within a defence context.

TIG: On page 5 of their manifesto TIG mention that they want to “maintain strong alliances with our closest European and international allies on trade, regulation, defence, security, the environment, aid, and counter-terrorism.” It should be noted that the TIG seem to be scaling down from their previous endeavours, and are only fielding 3 candidates in this general election.

In Summary

We are publicly politically unbiased. We do not officially endorse any one party over another. Although we have had some interesting friendly discussions within the office about politics and government.

Our message to the UK public is to get out and vote on the 12th December 2019. Never take a single issue as a reason to vote for a political party. Political parties pass laws and make decisions on investment based on pledges, and these laws and investments have a direct influence over every part of our day-to-day lives. Sure, look through our analyses and other peoples analyses, but try not to be influenced by bias (from manifestos, from analyses, from the media), be sceptical but also have hope. Consider also the four value pillars of Awen Collective, as we also believe that these are key to the future of UK society:

  • Agility

  • Warmth (as in kindness)

  • Equality

  • Next-level innovation

Finally, our message to those working governmental departments - we have established a good relationship with several governmental departments, we will continue to do our job as a small Welsh company developing and offering cyber security software solutions to critical national infrastructure and manufacturing across Wales, the UK, Europe and internationally. If the new elected cabinet and parliament make changes, then we will still continue to be there being both proactive and reactive.

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