We already buy a load of stuff for government from the USA.
Regardless of what software they choose they will probably outsource the IT management to a US company anyway.
The British don't really make OS software anymore , so trying to buy british doesn't really make sense here.
I'm not so bothered about what the government chooses to buy, I am more worried about the government forcing it's citizens to buy specific software.
With open source software (which mostly uses open standards) you do not "buy" anything. Instead you adapt particular open source product (be it training, integration with other company's software, etc).
To do training most likely you need local training company. To do integration, I agree after certain project size it might be possible to outsource it to another country. But even then - you most likely end up outsourcing to India, not to USA. Which again - lower total price.
Most Government IT in the UK is outsourced to the British arms of consulting companies like EDS or Accenture.
I suppose you are still employing British people but you would be even with an MS solution, the only difference is the licensing costs which may or may not be an issue.
I'm assuming MS licenses for workstations aren't that much of an issue otherwise FTSE 100 companies would not predominantly use it.
The British don't really make OS software anymore , so trying to buy british doesn't really make sense here.
I'm not so bothered about what the government chooses to buy, I am more worried about the government forcing it's citizens to buy specific software.