Following my article earlier this week on the manifestos and implications for NHS professionals, I have looked at how they might combine to change tech policy, on issues including surveillance, business and IT, government IT, immigration and the EU (both of some interest to the tech industry), employment law and the whole ‘actually having a government’ issue.
My conclusion:
On policies specifically about IT, the parties that are likely to form a government have relatively few disagreements. Where they do, they are likely to cancel each other out: it is likely that the next government will include either the Lib Dems, the SNP or possibly both, which looks set to hinder the introduction of the snooper’s charter whatever happens.
There is, of course, a bigger question: whether Britain can form any government after May 7, given substantial differences between parties on other issues – including paying off the deficit, whether Britain should vote on staying in the EU, and the commissioning of new nuclear weapons systems.
For all that they agree on with regard to broadband and digital by default, the politicians’ biggest problem on May 8 may well be to find any combination of parties that can form a government.