After witnessing Google and Facebook amass vast power and wealth from troves of personal information stored online, the father of the world wide web decided it was time for change. 

Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s answer was Solid: an app for people to bank their data in a “digital silo”, which would only share information with firms that vowed to use it in a secure and trusted way.

His venture is in its early days, having raised funding, but the spirit of Sir Tim’s arguments is being echoed by a group of MPs who believe radical thinking around data should help form the backbone of post-Brexit deregulation.

Despite some big ideas, Whitehall is facing criticism over its lack of impetus in cutting tech red tape as Britain strikes out from the EU on issues such as data protection, tech innovation and competition law.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith’s Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform (TIGRR) wants to emboldened internet users and take the shackles off start-ups by overhauling General Data Protection Legislation (GDPR) – the EU laws that came into effect in May 2018 to govern how people’s personal information and data is used, processed and stored. 

Concerned the regulation has become little more than a tick-box exercise, with users willingly signing over their data to avoid reams of consent forms, the taskforce urged Boris Johnson to forge a fresh regime.

It has called on ministers to usher in so-called “data trusts” that could negotiate how much personal information is shared with third-parties – such as Facebook. With individuals deciding how much data they are comfortable sharing from the outset, authorisation forms could potentially be phased out. 

Yet Government insiders claim Downing Street has yet to fully grasp the nettle, despite revealing plans in September to create a “pro-growth and pro-innovation” data regime. Criticisms are mounting that its approach to tech red tape has become a victim of the muddled thinking and inertia around wider deregulation plans.

A Government insider said: “Number 10 just is not clear on what our position is [on deregulation]. The compass swings from long periods of inactivity to bursts of dog-whistle claims of ‘we are going to scrap all the regulation on your British banger’.

“But we ought to be able to do both. We should be able to have Jacob Rees-Mogg teasing the crowd with how we are going to ditch some of Brussels’ bonkers rules, while also finding ways to support new technologies”.

Calls to step up the pace come less than six months after ministers attempted to forge a new vision on data. Then digital secretary Oliver Dowden outlined reforms designed to remove GDPR’s biggest burdens to innovation and business.

Measures included creating a more “flexible” data management programme for firms by stripping out articles 37 and 39 from UK GDPR that demand companies appoint a data protection officer or risk fines of £8.7m, or 2pc of annual turnover. 

Ministers want to embolden artificial intelligence innovation by tweaking laws to allow more personal data to be reused for research, including bringing in a clearer definition of what classifies as scientific research within the law. 

Dowden also announced the appointment of a new Information Commissioner, former New Zealand data chief John Edwards, who has criticised overzealous regulations such as the EU’s cookie laws for inhibiting investment.

Edwards says Brexit meant he was “unshackled” from the EU’s data regime which often involves multiple regulators struggling to come to an agreement, and has “imposed a drag in some of those economies”.

Now, he says, “the UK gets to be a little more fleet of foot”, adding that many businesses think data protection requirements are “non productive”. 

“I want to try and hear how we can reduce that,” says Edwards. “If we can make it easy, that improves life for business and improves life for consumers.” 

 A Government spokesman says: “We are working tirelessly to reform our own data rules and seize new opportunities since leaving the EU. 

“Our proposed changes will protect people’s privacy while unlocking data to create an economic boost for businesses and consumers across the UK.”

Dom Hallas, the executive director of Coadec, a tech policy lobby group for UK start-ups, says the Government can make ground with tech deregulation by focusing on the bread-and-butter issues. 

“Areas like: should the ICO really be focusing on whether small companies have data protection officers when some ignore those rules, probably not. That just seems inherently stupid. Thinking about improving permissions around areas like AI is definitely important,” he adds.

Yet Downing Street must tread a fine line if it is to extract the £1bn worth of economic benefits of the proposals, without upsetting the near £300bn worth of data trading between the UK and the EU.

Hallas says: “The constant trade-off for us is the trade from data flows that come from adequacy with the European Union are about £272bn a year. It really matters that it is retained compared to the benefits that might be accrued from divergence. That’s where it gets tricky, as to whether it is worth it for all the risk.”

Regulation around data and tech is another area where Britain could diverge from Brussels. Brexit has meant the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)’s powers are being beefed up, including the ability to issue heavy fines.

Shivaun Raff, co-founder of the British price comparison service Foundem, has campaigned against Google in Europe for more than a decade, resulting in a €2.4bn (£2bn) fine in 2017 over the company’s search engine breaking competition law. 

The EU’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager, however, has faced claims she is more concerned with punishing companies than serving European businesses and consumers. 

Raff says: “The opportunity is that we could move faster. Europe is currently dragging its feet and failing to enforce Google’s compliance with its own judgments, so the CMA might have an opportunity to take the lead.

“If we don’t have a regulator that is making sure that the internet is a level playing field for the next generation of tech startups to be able to thrive and reach their full potential, then we won’t be the country with the next unicorns.”

The UK’s success in fostering innovation and transforming the next shoal of tech minnows into industry-defining companies will be a key measure for its success on deregulation.