Drive to put Britain online launched

Internet entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox has launched a drive to get everyone in Britain online – saying the country would save £22 billion as a result.

The co-founder of lastminute.com, now the UK’s Digital Champion, has announced plans to get every working-age person using the web by 2012.

She said around 10 million Britons have never used the internet – nearly half of whom are among the most disadvantaged in society – adding: “By getting more people online, everybody wins.”

Ms Lane Fox wants to see local digital champions in all local authorities, all 750 Jobcentre Plus offices and all public libraries by the end of the year.

She is also calling on retailers to provide tailored internet packages for people on low incomes and the elderly.

Writing in the Daily Mirror, the businesswoman said: “It is a challenge for people and organisations in every corner of our country to inspire, encourage and support as many new people as possible to get online by the end of the Olympic year.

“I would like to see everyone who is looking for work online, as well as everyone who is about to retire. This ambition would create real social change.

“Research shows that if everyone was online, total benefits will be in excess of £22 billion with households saving on average £560 a year.”

Ms Lane Fox will present her Manifesto for a Networked Nation at Downing Street.

Source: Press Association