HAS THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY DRIVE GONE TOO FAR?

A BRAVE new world of robots, artificial intelligence and driverless cars will be promised when the Government unveils details of its “industrial strategy” next week.

A Whitehall “white paper” policy document to be launched by Business Secretary Greg Clark on Monday is expected to set out an ambitious blueprint for a British economy transformed by the latest technological developments. More automation of the workplace is seen as the antidote to the dire productivity levels that are being blamed for stuttering economic growth for years ahead in official forecasts.

Ever since Labour prime minister Harold Wilson dreamed of the “white heat of technological revolution” in the 1960s, politicians have loved to trumpet the latest gizmos and gadgets as the answer to the nation’s problems. Whether voters are still excited by predictions of a glimmering high-technology future is less clear.

Last week, Chancellor Philip Hammond insisted driverless cars will be sweeping along Britain’s roads within the next four years. Yet there is little evidence of demand for such technology in the wider public. Many drivers are likely to share motoring journalist Jeremy Clarkson’s concerns about the safety of stepping into a computer-guided vehicle.

Planning for the future will always be a crucial part of any government’s work. But politicians need to be mindful that not everyone shares their enthusiasm for a science fiction-style vision of the country’s future. The Luddite protesters who smashed up textile machinery in the 19th century may well have turned out to have been on the wrong side of “progress” yet were still motivated by legitimate concerns about the impact of the technology on their own jobs and living standards.

Getting over-enthusiastic about an inhuman robotic future could be as dangerous for the Tories as allowing themselves to be painted as the cold-hearted purveyors of so-called “austerity”. They need to avoid anything that could drive voters towards Jeremy Corbyn’s backward-looking, nostalgic brand of socialism.