Election 2010: Why technology is a political hot potato

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Depending on which pollster you believe - or ignore - the current general election is the most likely since 1992 to produce a hung Parliament.

Granted, many opinion polls are giving David Cameron and the Conservative Party a very healthy lead, but such is the size of the Labour majority in the House Of Commons, that it’s going to take a very sizeable swing to return a Tory majority. It will, hype and hyperbole aside, be the closest election for nearly two decades.

And that puts three parties firmly in the spotlight. For the mere prospect of a hung Parliament inevitably increases the emphasis upon the contents of the Liberal Democrat manifesto more than usual.

Click here for the tech side to each party platform:

Labour

Conservative

Liberal Democrat

Pirate

Some believe that the upcoming trio of televised debates between party leaders could also benefit the Liberals, giving the party primetime exposure it otherwise might struggle to attain.

It also means that the parties are keen to embrace whatever populist issues they may uncover in a bid to swing crucial votes in their direction, and inevitably, technology matters have bubbled up this time around.

Football

Technology has always been a political issue to an extent, of course, but in this year’s campaign, there’s a feeling that it’s going to be more important than ever. Granted, technology and the way we interact and rely on it has evolved since Britain last went to the polls in 2005.

But beyond that, there are also the ongoing arguments over the current Government’s attempts to push through the Digital Economy Bill, which has not been shy of generating headlines itself.

The work of the bill is not complete, as it’s in the Parliamentary ‘wash-up- system that allows legislation to be transferred between Parliaments. And that means this is an issue still very much to play for.

As such, whether the assorted parties believe in the work that’s been done as a consequence of Lord Carter Of Barnes’ Digital Britain report, they’re each keen to push forward ideas of their own, as the issues contained within it aren’t going to go away.

Broadband

The key positive headline-grabber, of course, is the promise to roll-out universal broadband by 2012, albeit at a minimum speed of 2Mbps. That’s progress, to be fair, but it’s a figure with significant headroom for improvement.

Cutting digital exclusion is something on the policy books of all, it seems, and thus far, some trading of blows between the Conservatives and Labour has been the most high profile debate on the matter thus far.

This was spurred when the Conservatives announced its specific technology manifesto - the first time a political party in the UK has published such a pre-election document - with the headline claim that it would deliver 100Mbps broadband services to most homes by the year 2017.

The Government responded by arguing it was promising the same thing, albeit part-funded by the already announced 50 pence levy on fixed telephone lines. It wasn’t the most significant trading of blows to date, but it’s already demonstrating the importance of the issue.

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