Britain can save billions of pounds a year by embracing online technology in public services, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday, weeks before an election being partly fought over soaring government borrowing. Brown said the Labour government, which has funded plans to bring broadband Internet to nearly all homes by 2012, would open access to public data to transform the way citizens communicated with the state.
He said further investment to build a next generation, superfast broadband network over the coming decade would bring "new, cheaper, more personalised and more effective public services to people." The government proposes to pay for this faster network by 2017 with a 6 pound a year tax on telephone lines although the Conservatives say the levy is unnecessary and would scrap it if they win the election.
Britain's budget deficit is heading towards a record 12 percent of gross domestic product this year, a figure comparable to crisis-hit Greece. Labour promises to halve the deficit over four years but the Conservatives say that is not enough. Part of either side's plans to get borrowing down after an 18-month recession will fall under the heading of "efficiency savings" - finding cheaper ways to do government business.
Brown said the government could save money and improve the quality of public services at the same time. "Shifts in existing spending, including being prepared to cancel current projects ... together with more detailed plans ... in the budget on Wednesday, will help us to save billions of pounds a year in public sector costs in the next few years."
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