What British Politics Would Look Like If the Tech Sector Were in Charge

TechUK, a trade body representing the tech industry in Britain, just released its "manifesto for growth and jobs" for 2015-2020, and the document gives a few interesting insights into what the future of the country's governance would look like if tech companies could engineer things their way.

With the tech sector in charge, the UK of the future would see a digital minister for every government department; it would see smart cities fuelled by an Internet of Things-powered smart grid; it would see clusters of technological dedication across the country that would welcome entrepreneurial talent with "smart" immigration policies.

That's according to the manifesto, at least. Its publication comes just ahead of party conference season, where the UK's major political parties will outline their own agendas ahead of the general election in May next year. TechUK, which counts the likes of Apple, Google, and Yahoo among its 860 members, appeals to whatever the "next potential government" might look like with its five-year plan.

The organisation seems to recognise that the best way to get tech firmly on the political agenda is to get more tech-minded people into politics. One key recommendation in the manifesto outlines a host of new jobs: a ministerial post in each government department "that clearly has digital within its portfolio." Together, these ministers would form a "Ministerial Digital Taskforce."

Where to get these new ministers? "Through senior direct hires from industry and expanding the Digital and Technology fast stream," the report helpfully suggests.

The tech sector's recommendations don't stop at central government, and it has its eyes on local initiatives too, calling for an "up-skilling" in local government so as to make best use of the digital agenda. TechUK is also keen for the government to promote and support more "tech clusters" along the lines of East London's Tech City.

That's all well and good, but Diginomica's Stuart Lauchlan points out that it takes something more than wishful thinking to coax a hub of technological and economic activity into an area. Something like, say, tax breaks.

Indeed, Lauchlan's diagnosis of TechUK's manifesto as mixing "common sense with hopeless naiveté" seems to pretty much strike the nail on the head. Perhaps in character with the firms it represents, the organisation's manifesto includes some very ambitious goals among its more reasonable requests.

Some of its demands and desires go beyond the scope of the UK; at one point it calls on the country to "commit to driving the development of the European Digital Single Market."

It also sets its eyes firmly on immigration policy—something that tech companies have long been struggling to relax in order to encourage migrant talent, but which is in general a bit of a political minefield (UKIP, a right-wing party with strong views on immigration, reported great success in the European elections earlier this year).

One particularly eyebrow-raising chapter in the manifesto lays out TechUK's aims to "make the UK a world-leading trusted domain for data protection." Against a background of the highly controversial Data Retention and Investigatory Powers (DRIP) law, which has been greatly criticised for its collection of personal data, not to mention the ongoing controversy over mass surveillance by GCHQ, that seems rather over-optimistic—even with the intervention of their touted Chief Privacy Officer.

In its enthusiastic conclusion, the document claims that the next government could follow its recommendations "to ensure that by 2020 the UK is securely on course towards long-term debt reduction, increased productivity growth, high value job creation and an inclusive society."

But then, what would a tech industry manifesto be without a little hubris?