Brown pledges super-fast broadband for all

Gordon Brown has set out plans to ensure super-fast broadband for every home, in a move he claimed could slash billions from public service costs and create more than 250,000 jobs.

The Prime Minister pledged a "radical" package of internet-led measures, coupled with funding to be announced in Wednesday's Budget, to transform the UK by 2020.

Some £30 million will be allocated to create an Institute of Web Science, headed by internet inventor Sir Tim Berners Lee and leading scientist Professor Nigel Shadbolt.

Mr Brown plans to give everyone in the country a personalised webpage for accessing services within four years in a bid to reduce the cost of face-to-face contacts with officials.

Job centres and physical offices dealing with tax, vehicle licensing, passports and housing benefit could be closed within 10 years.

Unions have complained that thousands of public sector workers would be made jobless and personal data put at risk given the State's poor security record in recent years.

Labour insists state help will be needed upfront to ensure rural areas do not lose out and has introduced a 50p tax on existing landlines to pay for it.

Mr Brown said: "Super-fast broadband is the electricity of the digital age. And I believe it must be for all, not just for some."