Liz Kendall: ‘I’d love to stay as UK tech secretary’ | Sifted Podcast

Liz Kendall was appointed as the UK's Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology just under a year ago. But will she keep her role under the country's new prime minister? There is one area her views diverge from those of Andy Burnham, widely tipped to be the country's new leader: autonomous vehicles. While Burnham's team is reported to have reservations about the technology, Kendall has thrown her support behind the British companies building it. "We should be backing British companies in this technology, because if we don't, we'll end up reliant on US companies," she tells host John Thornhill on this week's episode of the Sifted podcast. The pair also discuss whether the brief of AI and online safety minister Kanishka Narayan is too big, the challenge of unlocking more growth capital for British tech companies — and why she'd "love to stay" in her role.