Andy Burnham’s plan to scrap technology department triggers backlash

Andy Burnham’s plans to move DSIT into the business department have not yet been signed off, with some experts saying they hope he will change his mind. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA View image in fullscreen Andy Burnham’s plans to move DSIT into the business department have not yet been signed off, with some experts saying they hope he will change his mind. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA Andy Burnham’s plan to scrap technology department triggers backlash MPs and industry experts say potential reorganisation will waste time at critical moment for AI and economic growth Andy Burnham’s plan to scrap the government’s technology department has triggered an angry backlash from MPs, Whitehall officials and tech experts. The incoming prime minister has asked officials to draw up plans to abolish the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology as part of a wider Whitehall shake-up. The plans have not yet been signed off, but they are causing significant disquiet among experts inside and outside government. The backlash comes amid concerns in the Labour party about some of Burnham’s early decisions, including the likely appointment of Shabana Mahmood as chancellor . Matt Clifford, an adviser on AI to the outgoing prime minister, Keir Starmer, and his predecessor, Rishi Sunak, posted on X: “This would be a big mistake. Right now is a critical moment for tech as an economic and national security issue. Tying up our most senior science and tech officials in a [reorganisation] wastes time and energy that’s desperately needed for the actual substance.” One Labour MP referred to the plans as “getting rid of the department of the future”. Sources familiar with the plans have told the Guardian Burnham’s advisers asked officials to work up plans to hand over much of science and technology policy to a more powerful business department, to be led by the chief whip, Jonathan Reynolds. Responsibility for overseeing the use of AI in the public sector would be given to the cabinet secretary, Antonia Romeo, rather than a minister. People within the technology sector have reacted with alarm, saying AI and advanced technology are likely to dominate many of the government’s policy decisions over the next few years. Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, recently said she thought AI would be the major foreign policy question of the next two years. In a speech last year , Starmer called AI “the defining opportunity of our generation”. AI enthusiasts point to the success of the British company DeepMind, which was bought by Google in 2014, as evidence the UK can play a global role in the sector. Others, however, say the recent US tech deal signed by Starmer shows the British AI industry is at risk of turning into a subsidiary of the American tech sector. Dom Hallas, the executive director of the Startup Coalition, posted on X: “Changes to DSIT (which I’ve been getting calls about) would be a mistake.” He added: “A mega [business] department would mean British tech competing