From facebook regulation to tv licences, nicky morgan has an awful lot on her plate | thearticle

Boris Johnson’s appointment of Priti Patel, Michael Gove, Dominic Raab and Gavin Williamson to senior Cabinet roles attracted a lot of attention last week. But Nicky Morgan’s return to the

political top table, though it got rather overlooked in all the excitement, is every bit as significant. Morgan, along with Amber Rudd, is one of the most avowedly ‘Remain’ voices sitting in

Cabinet. That this self-proclaimed One Nation Tory chose to give up a powerful select committee chairmanship to join the same government as Jacob Rees-Mogg makes her appointment fascinating

in and of itself. However, the role she has been asked to take on deserves specific scrutiny. It is apparent that Morgan was not Johnson’s top pick to be Secretary of State for Digital,

Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS). He really wanted Tracey Crouch to take the role, but she turned it down, choosing instead to stay with her young child and partner. Now in post, Morgan is

going to find some of the day’s biggest issues on her agenda. Possibly the top items on her new to-do list come in the ‘D’ part of her department’s title. She will have to look at the

regulation of digital firms and Big Tech. We’ve seen already seen how the DCMS Select Committee has grilled the likes of Facebook. Now, Morgan must lead on deciding British policy towards

such firms. In the last days of Theresa May’s time in Downing Street, her government put forward a plan for a digital services tax. This two per cent tax would apply to firms that operate

social media platforms, search engines and online marketplaces, and have worldwide digital revenues of over $500 million, £25m of which is from UK users. It is hard to see Boris Johnson

wanting to introduce a tax on big American firms – President Trump is already threatening France with tariffs on wine in retaliation for introducing similar legislation. Consequently, Morgan

may well have to come up with a new solution or justify scrapping plans to get more tax revenue from some of the world’s biggest firms. She will also have to look into issues of privacy

raised by these firms and consider the growth of Artificial Intelligence. This technology is going to have a profound effect on our lives, and it will inevitably fall to her to decide if

Britain would like to regulate it, and, most likely, how. Tens of millions of pounds of funding for the UK arts is at threat as a result of Brexit. The ‘C’ in Morgan’s department could then

really put her in the Brexit firing line. She will have to navigate supporting this vital British sector without breaking collective responsibility and criticising Johnson’s Brexit plans –

not an easy task. The media landscape in the UK, like elsewhere, is changing rapidly. Morgan will have to contend with criticism of the BBC stopping free TV licences for the over 75s. This

happened after responsibility for funding was handed to the broadcaster by the government, meaning criticism could come her department’s way from those unhappy to pay. Indeed, Morgan might

even have to deal with questions about the viability of the licence fee as a whole. We’ve already started to see the shift in funding models, even from the BBC. It brought its subscription

streaming service, BritBox, with ITV to the UK recently. It is one of the first digital services linked to the BBC that it will ask Brits to pay for its content beyond the licence fee. Apps

like BBC Sounds are currently free, as is BBC iPlayer. The BBC actually wants to be allowed to keep content on iPlayer for longer than a month, despite BritBox, another contentious issue.

Sport is arguably the most straightforward part of Morgan’s brief at the moment. However, the country is set to host a number of sporting events during the remainder of 2019, starting with

the Ashes in just a few days time. While the sports’ governing bodies will take the lead in these events, Morgan will clearly have to be engaged too. DCMS has long had the reputation as

Whitehall’s department of fun. That changed a bit with phone hacking, but it is fair to say Morgan’s predecessor, Jeremy Wright, did not quite have the required passion for the job. With a

seemingly disinterested Secretary of State and the Brexit furore raging, DCMS has just plodded along in recent months. Yet now, more than ever, it is the department charged with dealing with

key issues in the modern world. Nicky Morgan has a lot on her plate.