Call to promote green technologies
Updated on 05 January 2009
Every home should have ultra-fast broadband within a decade, David Cameron is due to say as he sets out plans to make the UK a world leader in green technologies.
Britain had fallen way behind European rivals in the push to exploit the multi-trillion pound market in planet-friendly business, he will warn, and must do "a lot better".
Mr Cameron will deliver his message as the party publishes two independent policy reports on how the party could boost the chances of British firms in the sector.
They call for a massive new state investment in green technology "incubators", free access to testing facilities, a new Low Carbon Index of green firms and tax breaks on their shares.
And the party leader will also announce a full-scale review of the creative industries led by an as-yet-unnamed "leading public figure".
Building a new fibre-optic broadband network is one of the projects included by Prime Minister Gordon Brown in his bid to spend the UK out of economic crisis.
Mr Cameron will say urgent action is required to improve internet services in the UK, which had "some of the slowest broadband speeds in the developed world".
He will say: "Fibre optic broadband is changing the way people work and do business, and it has the potential to completely transform our economy. It could open up new markets for our creative industries, promote innovation, create new, family-friendly jobs as people can work from home - and help reduce carbon emissions.
"But in Britain we have some of the slowest broadband speeds in the developed world and when it comes to investing in next generation broadband networks, like fibre optics to the home, we're doing very badly compared to countries like Germany.
"We need to move much faster towards a Britain where fibre right into people's homes is the norm for everyone and a Conservative Government will do everything it can to make it happen within a decade."
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