UK government met 137 businesses over AI datacentres – but no environmental groups

Members of the Save Brick Lane campaign protested against the construction of an AI datacentre in the east London neighbourhood in June. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

The UK’s policy on datacentres and AI was developed without any meetings with environmental groups, an investigation has found.

The nonprofit organisation Spotlight on Corruption said a “considerable revolving door” shaped the government’s development of “AI growth zones”, a central plank of the former prime minister Keir Starmer’s AI and economic policy, with 38 ministers, senior civil servants and special advisers hired to positions in AI companies between July 2024 and September 2026.