The UK is using its post-Brexit role in global digital trade and data governance to promote economic growth and deregulation through free trade agreements and domestic data protection reforms.

However, this article seeks to describe, as far as possible, how Brexit has affected the business and regulatory environment across the full range of areas covered by Steptoe and Johnson practices so far, and to identify issues of potential future concern for companies.

However, simply because we can diverge does not mean that we should diverge; the benefits are negligible at best. The likely result would be the United Kingdom no longer being recognised as a “trusted partner” in the field of data security and the end of a free flow of data.

The reality that Leavers are facing is that the promised benefits of Brexit are hard to achieve while the costs are hard to avoid.

Recently, the government launched a wide-ranging consultation on proposed changes to the UK’s data landscape, with Brussels’ warnings that it will sever a data-sharing agreement with the UK if the proposed reforms are found to pose a threat to EU citizens’ privacy.

It's now been five years since the United Kingdom voted in a referendum to leave the European Union, and six months since it actually left.

With an adequacy decision for the UK looming, Laura Irvine, a Partner at law firm Davidson Chalmers Stewart, shares her insights on how this will affect storing data in the cloud.