Andy Burnham wants to abolish the UK's tech ministry. Here is why that alarms the AI industry.

Key points

• Andy Burnham, the incoming UK prime minister, has asked officials to draw up plans to abolish the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), the government body responsible for AI and tech policy.
• MPs, Whitehall officials and tech industry figures have all pushed back publicly against the proposal.
• Critics argue the reorganisation would create a damaging gap in leadership at a moment when rival countries are accelerating AI investment.
• No timeline for the shake-up has been confirmed publicly.

The UK has a ministry whose entire job is to think about technology and science. It is called the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, known as DSIT. Andy Burnham, set to become the next prime minister, reportedly wants to get rid of it.

Burnham has asked civil servants to draw up plans to fold DSIT into a wider Whitehall reorganisation, according to reporting first published by The Guardian. The proposal has prompted a swift and vocal backlash.

MPs from multiple parties, senior Whitehall officials and technology industry figures have all raised objections. Their core argument is simple: scrapping a dedicated tech department takes time, creates uncertainty and hands policy decisions to generalist civil servants who may not follow the detail of fast-moving AI developments.

Does this actually affect ordinary people?

Yes, indirectly but meaningfully. DSIT is the body that funds AI safety research, sets the rules for how companies can use people's data, and decides which emerging technologies get government backing. Without a clear ministerial home for those decisions, the policies that shape what AI tools British businesses and public services can use may slow down or stall.

For a nurse whose hospital is piloting an AI diagnostic tool, or a small business owner hoping to use AI software to cut admin costs, the concern is that regulatory clarity takes longer to arrive when no single department owns the brief.

Critics also point to competition. The United States, China and the European Union are all pouring money and political attention into AI right now. A prolonged Whitehall restructuring, which can easily take 12 to 18 months to settle, risks leaving British AI policy on pause while others move forward.

Burnham's team has not confirmed a timeline or given detailed reasons for the proposed change. Supporters of a shake-up sometimes argue that merging departments cuts duplication and saves money. Whether that logic holds for a fast-moving technical brief like AI is exactly what critics dispute.

For now, DSIT continues to operate. No formal announcement has been made. But the debate itself signals something real: who in government is responsible for AI policy is a genuinely contested question, and the answer has practical consequences for how the technology is built and regulated in the UK.