But Labour and the Conservatives faced controversy last month as they the new Digital Economy Bill into law, meaning users face being cut off if they access pirated material. While the Bill met support from creative industries and copyright holders, vocal opponents -- including broadband firm Talk Talk and the Open Rights Group -- said it limited free speech and imposed heavy burdens on internet service providers.

There has been much talk about how the ever-growing public sector deficit will be tackled -- resulting in pledges to cut huge costs from government IT. Labour has insisted it will £3.2 billion (US$4.7 billion) from IT spending by 2012, as part of a £15 billion operational efficiency review.

Socitm, the industry body for local government IT managers, Labour's IT strategy, accusing the government of focusing on cutting costs instead of improving services.

Conversely, the Tories say Labour's planned cuts are . They brought in former Labour efficiency adviser Sir Peter Gershon, who calculated that a further £12 billion could be cut, including £4 billion from public sector IT and £3 billion from contract renegotiation.

The Conservatives also say they would projects at £100 million. But no definition has been given so far on how having smaller IT projects would deliver definitive improvements.