The Tech Challenge: Why UK Political Parties Are Struggling

I had the privilege of hearing Harper Reed speak on his recent visit to London. Reed was President Obama's Chief Technology Officer at the last election and together with a number of others revolutionised the ways that politicians work with technology to campaign. Their results were spectacular and the fresh thinking they brought to campaigning showed the value in recruiting from non-political backgrounds.

However, whilst our parties like to think that they learn the lessons from the US, the General Election in 2015 will not mark a sea change in the way that our parties campaign.

There a number of reasons why this is the case.

Money - our parties have less finance to invest in the infrastructure needed to run an effective technology-based campaign...