Advance Union supports a campaign from the New Contract

A coalition of trade unions, including Advance, and progressive organisations have written to the Chancellor calling on the government to increase capital gains tax — warning that without urgent action, the AI revolution risks repeating the economic devastation of deindustrialisation.

The open letter, coordinated by The New Contract, a new pro-worker AI campaign organisation launched today, is signed by nearly 40 civil society organisations and trade unions and is released following the Chancellor’s recent announcement of a new AI Economics Institute.

It marks the first time the progressive and trade union movements have come together to speak out in warning over some of the changes AI is likely to bring to society, and calls for the government to take a more active role in shaping the transition. The letter demands it explore a wide range of policy solutions including taxation policy, welfare and retraining, AI workplace regulation, and the industrial strategy needed to ensure any AI gains can be shared across the UK.

In particular, the letter says the government must act now on capital gains tax, which they argue is an urgent first step to ensure that businesses do not have an incentive to use AI to simply automate human roles.

Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently made the case that changes to the tax system would be needed to cope with falling income from labour.

Highlighting the risk of an unmanaged AI transition, the letter warns:

“In this country, we saw what happened when technological change ravaged unprotected communities through deindustrialisation. Not supporting those communities was a political choice.”
Tom Darling, Founder and Executive Director of The New Contract, said:
“It’s great to see the progressive and trade union movement get serious about generative AI – this technological revolution threatens to upend our society. I am pleased to be founding The New Contract to be making the case for a progressive vision of our AI futures.
“We cannot allow this debate to be shaped only by Big Tech lobbyists and other reactionaries. Without an active state informed by a desire to advance progressive values, AI will deepen inequality, concentrate economic power, and leave the UK with less control over our own destiny than we have had for centuries.
“It’s been good to see a debate about our economic model starting in the governing Labour Party but for this to be serious it can’t leave out the AI transition.”