The Social Liberal Forum hosted this pre-conference lunch, for Spring Conference 2026.
Host: Cllr Wendy Taylor, Chair of the LGA Health & Wellbeing Committee.
VIP Speaker: Victoria Collins MP, Liberal Democrat Vice-President and DSIT Spokesperson
Getting the Tech Revolution Right: Power, Inclusion and Community
As part of her work developing the Liberal Democrat policy on AI, Collins has, over the last year, launched and run ‘Everyday AI’ – a hub hosted by herself and Lord Clement-Jones, Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson for DSIT – to stimulate policy development. Social Liberal Forum members at the lunch were pleased to hear a ‘sneak peek’ on the work of Everyday AI.
The Social Liberal Forum was pleased to invite Vice-President of the Liberal Democrats and spokesperson for Science, Innovation and Technology, Victoria Collins MP, to our pre-conference lunch, for Lib Dem Spring Conference 2026.
What emerged from her remarks was a distinctly social liberal argument about technology: that the question is not whether innovation will happen, but who it will work for, who will be excluded from it, and where power will sit as this next wave of change unfolds.
At the centre of that argument was a warning as well as an opportunity. Artificial intelligence and other new technologies are already reshaping everyday life, public services and the economy. But unless they are developed and deployed with inclusion in mind, they risk reinforcing inequalities that already exist. Collins pointed in particular to those who are less likely to be using AI today, including older people and women from ethnic minority backgrounds. If AI becomes embedded across work, services and decision-making, then those who are already less connected to these tools may be pushed further to the margins.
That concern resonated strongly with Social Liberal Forum’s own purpose: the transfer of power from remote and unaccountable corporations and institutions to people and communities. In that sense, the politics of technology is not a narrow specialist issue. It goes to the heart of who shapes society, who benefits from progress, and whether change strengthens democracy or weakens it.
1. Technology must work for communities, not just for markets
One of the strongest themes in Collins’ remarks was that technology policy has to be rooted in the everyday lives of people and communities. Too often, discussion about innovation is framed in abstract terms: productivity, disruption, competitiveness, scale. But a social liberal approach begins elsewhere. It asks whether new technology gives people more control over their lives, whether it expands opportunity, and whether it helps communities flourish rather than simply concentrating advantage.
That matters because technological revolutions do not arrive neutrally. They reshape power. They can widen gaps between those with access, confidence and influence, and those without. They can move decision-making further away from the communities affected by it. Or, if handled differently, they can help reverse that concentration of power.
This was the deeper political challenge Collins highlighted. Getting the next technological revolution right is not simply a matter of backing innovation in the abstract. It is about ensuring that innovation is directed toward human purposes and democratic ends.
2. Inclusion cannot be an afterthought in the age of AI
Artificial intelligence provided the clearest example of what is at stake. AI is often discussed as though adoption will spread evenly across society, but Collins drew attention to the reality that some groups are less likely to be using these tools now and may therefore be less likely to benefit as their influence grows.
That matters for several reasons. First, it affects access: if work, services and information increasingly depend on AI-enabled tools, then people who are already less engaged with them may find themselves excluded. Second, it affects voice: systems built without the experiences of diverse communities in mind are less likely to reflect their needs fairly. Third, it affects confidence and trust: a technology that feels imposed, opaque or remote is far less likely to be embraced than one that is seen to serve real needs.
A social liberal politics of technology therefore has to begin with empowerment. It must ask how people are supported to engage with new tools, how barriers to access are reduced, and how communities can shape the technologies that affect them. Inclusion is not a side issue to be addressed later. It is part of whether the technology itself succeeds.
3. Backing British innovation must go hand in hand with spreading power
Collins also offered a broader liberal vision of AI and technology policy, built around several connected ideas: backing British innovation, empowering people, and getting the infrastructure right.
The first of these matters because a country that wants to shape technological change cannot be passive. Britain needs innovation, investment and confidence in its own capacity to develop new technologies. But Collins’ argument suggested that innovation alone is not enough. The test is whether it is aligned with public purpose.
That is where empowerment becomes crucial. A genuinely liberal approach does not treat citizens as passive recipients of technological change. It sees them as participants in shaping it. It values local knowledge, democratic accountability and the ability of communities to influence the systems that govern their lives.
Infrastructure matters in the same way. Discussions of infrastructure can sound technical, but in practice they are about fairness and possibility. Who has access? Which places are connected? Which communities can benefit from new opportunities, and which are left waiting? If infrastructure is weak or uneven, then the benefits of innovation will also be weak and uneven.
4. This is ultimately a question about power
Perhaps the most important idea running through Collins’ remarks was that technology policy is really about the distribution of power. The digital economy has already created immense concentrations of influence in large corporations and distant institutions. The next wave of technological change could deepen that pattern. But it could also be used to challenge it.
That is where her argument connected most directly with Social Liberal Forum’s values. If technological change is shaped around communities, then it becomes possible to use innovation to disperse power rather than centralise it. That means designing policy not simply for efficiency or growth, but for accountability, participation and fairness. It means asking whether people feel more agency over their lives, not less. And it means resisting the idea that the future must be handed down from above by those with the greatest resources and technical power.
In this sense, the politics of technology is inseparable from the politics of democracy. A liberal response must be one that places human freedom, community voice and shared benefit at its centre.
Conclusion
Victoria Collins’ remarks offered a timely reminder that the next technological revolution is not just about tools, platforms or markets. It is about what kind of society we want to build.
Her message was clear: Britain should back innovation, but it must do so in a way that empowers people, includes those at risk of being left behind, and gives communities a stronger say in the forces reshaping their lives. AI and other technologies will only fulfil their promise if they are built around social purpose as well as technical possibility.
For social liberals, that means treating technology as a democratic question as much as an economic one. If we get it right, this revolution could help turn back the concentration of power and create a more inclusive, community-led future. If we get it wrong, it will reinforce the very inequalities and exclusions that liberalism exists to challenge.
The opportunity, as Collins suggested, is to shape technological change around people and communities. There could hardly be a more important task.