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Story URL: http://www.silicon.com/publicsector/0,3800010403,39156439,00.htm

Leader: Gordon Brown joins the IT crowd
Does the government rely too much on the promise of technology?

By silicon.com

Published: Tuesday 14 February 2006

Prime Minister-in-waiting, Gordon Brown, is the latest politician to join the IT crowd, praising biometrics in a major speech.

Brown has earned his shot at the top job through his solid management of the economy - something he did by cutting through nonsense and buzzwords to find the facts of a situation. So it seems out of character to throw his support behind such controversial technology.

While silicon.com is always a cheerleader for innovative use of technology, the government's relentless optimism that technology can solve every problem is slightly worrying.

The opposition parties are also beginning to realise this is a government that is over-reliant on technology at the expense of thought-out policies.

The Tories have begun to take pot shots at the government on tech-related issues as wide-ranging as DNA databases, chip and PIN and digital mapping, while the Lib Dems have been solid in their opposition to ID cards.

Increasingly, political parties are measured on which can deliver public services most cost-effectively.

And as technology is increasingly the route for service delivery and cost efficiencies, whichever administration gets to grip with public sector IT first could find themselves with a hefty chunk of cash to reinvest - or hand back in tax cuts.

Supporting new technologies is great - but politicians should be wary that they don't over-promise the benefits.

And if they push too hard on technology which isn't ready because they need to shore up their policies, they should not be allowed the luxury of blaming the IT people when things go wrong.