Election special: IT fights for Cabinet seat

The decision over whether to create a Cabinet post for ecommerce will be top priority for Tony Blair after tomorrow's election, according to the current e-minister.

Speaking to silicon.com, Patricia Hewitt declined to give her own opinion, but said Blair had created the first e-minister in the world and deciding whether to promote that post to the Cabinet "will be high on his list of priorities when it comes to after the election". The eminister currently has no seat at Cabinet meetings.

With Labour expected to romp home in tomorrow's election, pressure is growing on Blair, not just to recognise the fundamental importance of IT, but also to take direct action. "We need a champion for the knowledge economy at Cabinet level," said John Higgins, director general of the CSSA.

Blair is expected to radically shakeup Whitehall at the start of his second term, including breaking up Chris Smith's department of culture, media and sport, and creating a new 'working lives' ministry.

"The Cabinet is the place where the strategy is decided. We want somebody at the table putting the arguments on behalf of the knowledge economy. Not coming at it later on when details are being handed out for implementation by those further down the ladder," Higgins added.

Adding to the pressure, political lobby group Eurim released a draft set of recommendations earlier this year, pushing for a dedicated minister at Cabinet level to handle the adoption of e-government.

The influential group of politicians and industry representatives warn that without senior representation the roll out of online government services could quickly come off the rails during the next term.

But the Liberal Democrat spokesman on IT, Richard Allen, warned that unless the reorganisation is handled carefully, splitting responsibility off into a separate Cabinet post could damage the effectiveness of IT across all areas of Whitehall. "If it's simply going to pigeonhole ICT into a separate department then we wouldn't really have achieved anything," he said.

Shadow DTI minister Alan Duncan admitted a Conservative government would be unlikely to promote ecommerce in its own right, but added: "Anyone who is secretary of state for trade and industry, or the Chancellor or the head of the Cabinet Office, will have a massive IT element in their portfolios."