Blair's billion to get the UK online

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair today outlined government plans to spend £1bn delivering its services online by 2005, and hundreds of millions more to bring internet access to all UK citizens.

Speaking at the British Gas Technology centre at Loughborough, he said: "There is no new economy. There is one economy and all of it is being transformed by information technology.

"Today I am announcing a new campaign. Its goal is to get the UK online. To meet the three targets we have set for Britain: to be the best place in the world for ecommerce, to get universal access to the internet, and to put all government services on the net."

Blair praised his government's record on IT, saying it had achieved many of its goals - more than 1.7 million small businesses are now online, and the UK is now the leading nation in the world for off-peak internet access and digital TV according to OECD figures.

He also shrugged off questions on the weakest part of the government's track record - changes to tax rules that have hit IT contractors, and the regulation of how new technology is used to fight criminals.

Blair said a lot of the media coverage of the subject was "hugely alarmist", adding that "we have addressed most of the worries".

"We cannot know for certain what the future has in store, but I am certain of one thing, the whole shape of our economy will be changed by this new technology... investing in the knowledge economy is the only way we can succeed," he said.

The government has outlined its planned action in a report from its performance and innovation unit, which among other things calls for Whitehall to mirror dotcom innovation and the creation of an incubator unit that will trial new online services before they are rolled out across the government.