Ditching DSIT

Good morning and welcome back,

I was going to write about the new tech secretary’s ballooning in-tray today, but we have to instead ask if there will be a tech secretary. 

On Friday, the FT reported “speculation” that DSIT would be scrapped and on Saturday The Times cited a “Burnham ally” with the odd justification that “it’s always been a slightly chaotic department”. The Sunday Times then reported there would be a new "AI minister" at cabinet-level, but it was unclear which department they would be based in.

A government official told me that while nothing was yet confirmed, splitting up DSIT between the business department and Culture, Media and Sport (a return to the pre-2023 setup) was on the cards, with an announcement expected after Burnham names his cabinet this afternoon.

This would have major policy implications for tech and was widely criticised by industry groups. Below, I'll make some sense of the chaotic weekend and what is likely to happen next.

Happening Today 📆

Day One: Andy Burnham will speak outside 10 Downing Street at around 1pm with much of the Cabinet announced this afternoon.

Look at EU: Lib Dem peer Tim Clement-Jones is asking ministers this afternoon about what they think of the EU's digital sovereignty package and a potential UK equivalent.

Summer break: The Morning Intelligence will publish as normal until this Friday (July 24th). From Monday July 27th to Friday August 28th, it'll publish twice a week (every Tuesday and Friday). From September 1st full service resumes.