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

Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged a "radical" package of internet-led measures - coupled with funding to be announced in tomorrow'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 Prof. Nigel Shadbolt.

And he warned that Tory proposals risked creating a "digital divide", with large parts of the country missing out on the advantages of an advance as significant as the arrival of electricity.

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 in benefit could be closed within 10 years.

"I want Britain to be the world leader in the digital economy which will create over a quarter of a million skilled jobs by 2020, the world leader in public service delivery where we can give voice and choice to citizens, parents, patients and consumers, and the world leader in the new politics where that voice for feedback and deliberative decisions can transform the way we make local and national decisions," he said.