Senior MP invitations Elon Musk to UK and warns Tech Secretary Peter Kyle – ‘I’ll be in your case’

Peter Kyle has been told to fix the “wild west” of the internet as a matter of urgency by a top Labour MP.

Chi Onwurah has warned the Technology Secretary she will be “on his case” to ensure he delivers on his “huge ambitions” to make social media safe. In one of her first interviews as chair of the Commons’ Science, Innovation and Technology committee, she said the Tories were almost “criminal in their negligence” of strengthening online safety. But she said it was now the job of the new Labour government to pave the way forward, not backwards.

The senior MP has hit the ground running in her new role holding the government and industry to account. On Friday she invited tech billionaire Elon Musk to give evidence to her committee – virtually or in person – in the new year. The Twitter /X boss, who is set to serve as Donald Trump ’s government efficiency tsar, has been a thorn in the Labour government’s side, making public digs about Keir Starmer and stoking tensions during the summer’s riots.

Acknowledging Mr Musk’s “strong views on freedom of speech”, Ms Onwurah said: “I hope he won’t be afraid to accept our invitation but will look forward to exercising his own free speech and sharing his views.”

She said the riots, triggered by swirling misinformation online about the murder of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, exposed the reality of online harms in a very real way. It is why one of her first moves as committee chair has been to launch an inquiry into social media, misinformation and the role of algorithms – and to show the public they can have a say in how tech affects them.

The MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West said: “Everybody’s carrying a hugely powerful computer in their pocket, but people don’t necessarily think that technology is about them or for them. The key message I want to give to the public is that we shape technology.

“It’s not something that just happens to us. It’s not something that is purely sort of driven by profit interests of billionaires. Technology is made for people, not people for technology.”

Ms Onwurah, who is a qualified engineer, worked in tech for 20 years before becoming an MP, with jobs in hardware and software development as well as for media regulator Ofcom. She said she is passionate about tech and politics for the same reason – because they have the potential to “make people’s lives better”.

“I’m quite upset in a way that over my lifetime as an engineer, my working life, engineering has gone from being boring but useful to being exciting but exploitative,” she said. “I think it’s really important that we take steps to show that the law applies online as well as offline and that no one’s above that.

“Nobody is untouchable. There may be difficulties in holding people to account but the committee won’t let that prevent us from identifying what the issues are and who the culprits are.”

She is keen to emphasise her belief that tech can be – and should be – a force for greater good. Ms Onwurah said revolutionary artificial intelligence is already helping teachers plan lessons so they can spend more time with kids, while ministers are keenly looking into accelerating the use of tech in the NHS.

The senior MP has launched an initiative in which a science or tech innovator will showcase their breakthroughs in a ten-minute presentation at every public committee session. The first guests will be two businesswomen from Newcastle who set up a company to transform the diagnosis of skin cancer.

“When you’re an MP and you just hear people’s stories, their waiting lists on the NHS, waiting to get a test, waiting for their results, the agony that they are in, just speeding up that process will reduce the sort of physical and emotional suffering of so many,” she said.

“Or the way technology can liberate access for those with disabilities. Those with hearing or sight disabilities, it can help them engage fully in the world through text to voice. There’s just so many ways in which technology can help so many people.”

Ms Onwurah, who is a Black, working-class, Geordie woman, said she wants people to know there are huge opportunities in tech and that everyone can be involved in the industry. “Technology won’t reflect you unless people in tech reflect the diversity of our great country,” she said.

“There are not enough women, people of colour or working class kids. What we want to achieve as a committee is to change people’s views about science, innovation and technology and make it part of people’s lives and make people feel more in control of the impact it has on them.”