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Will parties' tech policies influence your vote?

We've done, I think, a fairly comprehensive round-up of every significant UK party's technology policies. I'm curious to know, though, how much of an influence these policies will be on your vote.
Written by David Meyer, Contributor

We've done, I think, a fairly comprehensive round-up of every significant UK party's technology policies. I'm curious to know, though, how much of an influence these policies will be on your vote.

Digital issues have in one or two cases had a major effect on a country's choice of leadership — high-speed broadband in Australia springs to mind. It's hard to say, however, whether any such factor will come into play in the UK.

As for high-speed broadband itself, every party here is in favour. Funding that roll-out is one area where differences arise, certainly between Labour and the Tories, but I do not get the impression that many people are so exercised over this subject that they will change their votes accordingly. The Digital Economy Bill — an area where the Liberal Democrats and Greens provide very different ideas to Labour and the Tories — has outraged quite a few people, and hopefully engaged some of the younger ones with the political process, but again we need time to tell whether it makes a difference come 6 May.

What do you think? Can open source, fibre or the digital divide really rival the deficit or foreign affairs in terms of importance? Do parties have sufficiently varied views on such things? And does a party's tech-savviness really make it more attractive when it comes to casting your vote?

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