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We reveal why tech might decide the outcome of the election and the tech policies of the big three parties
Before politicians board their battle buses for this year’s General Election, there’s a new subject they’re going to have to rehearse sound bites for: technology. For the first time in British political history, subjects such as broadband, file-sharing and access to computers in the home are appearing on election manifestos.
While no-one is pretending that pre-election pledges on broadband speeds are likely to hold as much sway over voters as the faltering economic recovery, fiddled expenses, or Gordon Brown’s short fuse, the fact the major parties are even talking about technology is indicative of its potential significance at the ballot box.
Technology is a potential vote-winner in other ways too. The 2010 General Election will see the debut of social networking services such as Twitter and Facebook on the campaign trail, as MPs and candidates slip the spin doctors’ shackles and communicate directly with the electorate – risking everything on an unguarded comment that could make its way round the internet faster than the most rapacious virus.
Here we’re going to examine the digital policies of Britain’s three main political parties to help you decide who deserves an X on your ballot paper, and reveal what impact technology could have on the campaign itself. Prepare for Britain’s first General Techlection.
Tech front and centre
There’s no doubt that technology now pervades even the highest echelons of government. Since the last General Election in 2005, we’ve seen the appointment of two Ministers for Digital Britain, and the subsequent publication of the Digital Economy Bill. When even Lord Mandelson spends hour upon hour in the chamber debating the finer points of disconnecting illegal file-sharers, you know technology has splashed down in the political mainstream.
The parties also view issues such as broadband speeds as potential vote-swingers. A few months after the Government pledged to bring nationwide connections of 2Mbits/sec by 2012 and announced a £6 per year tax to pay for next-generation high-speed networks, the opposition went one further, promising to deliver nationwide 100Mbits/sec broadband by 2017.
In the same way as the parties use the number of bobbies on the beat and hospital beds as pre-election tempters, they’re now bandying around broadband speeds. “In the 19th century, we built the railways; in the 20th century, we built the motorways. In the 21st century, let’s build the superfast broadband network,” said shadow chancellor George Osborne, announcing the new policy on the BBC.
The internet is also the driving force behind a new political force: the UK branch of the Pirate Party, which counts reform of the copyright and patent law for the internet age among one of its three core policies. The Pirates plan to field up to ten candidates across the country, although party leader Andrew Robinson admits its target is modest.
“Our target is simple and realistic – to raise our profile,” he said. “We are well aware that we won’t storm to power in a first-past-the-post election, so we’re treating it as a learning experience, as well as the most cost-effective way there is to make the public aware of our existence and our policies.”
Election watchers are equally sceptical that technology policies are going to prove decisive for all but a slim minority of voters. “It isn’t something we’ve noticed coming up in our polls,” said Dr Roger Mortimer, head of political research at Ipsos Mori, echoing the views of fellow pollsters YouGov. “There are only two or three big issues that register with voters – things like the economy and crime,” Mortimer added, although he did concede that fringe issues such as technology could help sway an undecided voter.
Social vote-winning
If technology policies won’t be enough to shift the pendulum on the swingometer, technology itself might be. When Britain last went to the polls in May 2005, Facebook was still Mark Zuckerberg’s university project and Twitter hadn’t even been invented. Now, both are widely used by politicians to reach out directly to voters
