Hung parliament could paralyse public sector IT

Dave Bailey, Computing, Tuesday 20 April 2010 at 10:53:00

A Lib Dem/Labour coalition would struggle to agree on the right government IT
strategy, say experts

With ICM and YouGov polls this week predicting a hung parliament, experts
warn that Whitehall IT procurement plans could be thrown into disarray if the
election fails to produce an outright winner.

The most likely hung parliament scenario will be one in which the Labour
Party forms a government for a fourth term with support from the Liberal
Democrats.

Labour is more focused on central government delivery mechanisms while the
Liberal Democrats favour local solutions.

Janet Grossman, head of the government group at IT industry association
Intellect, explained the possible result of such a scenario: ?This [difference
in focus] could lead to bitter disagreements on whether or not major department
ICT projects should be scrapped in favour of smaller regional solutions.

?On the other hand, we could see more effort being put into areas on which
all the parties agree, such as shared services and cloud computing initiatives,?
she added.

The biggest issue for a hung parliament is how the government?s
next-generation broadband rollout

will proceed.

Labour has said it will revive its 50p-per-month broadband tax if it is
re-elected and ? despite being ditched as a result of considerable Tory
hostility at the last reading in the Commons ? this measure is largely supported
by Liberal Democrats.

Don Foster, Lib Dem shadow secretary for culture, media and sport, supports
the tax but said: ?Government must provide exemptions from the tax for
pensioners and the least well-off.?

Quocirca communications analyst Rob Bamforth said the government?s Digital
Britain strategy is likely to survive in the event of a hung parliament.

?This will be especially true if the Liberal Democrats continue to show
support. However, it needs to be recognised that [broadband rollout] may not
even make the agenda if other priorities [such as electoral reform] are
considered more important,? he said.

Full story at http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2261633/coalition-threatens