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By Polly Raymond, 29 October 1999 00:30

NEWS UK Chancellor Gordon Brown has launched of a raft of funding and taxation schemes aimed at boosting Britain's Net economy. Addressing a conference of business leaders and Internet experts in London, Brown announced a seven-point plan which includes "action to improve competition, innovation and education". Among the main priorities, according to Brown, is to boost the Net start-up economy. He announced a series of taxation plans to ease the path of start-ups through stock option tax benefits, and revealed that the Treasury is considering ways to encourage larger venture capital companies to invest more in the sector. Brown said: "Corporate venturing has been vital in Silicon Valley and elsewhere - providing smaller high-tech firms with a strong capital base, better skills in marketing and management and a greater market-reach. To help the large companies sponsor the development of the small, we are considering new incentives to promote corporate venturing." He added the government is determined to stamp out anti-competitive behaviour particularly in the telecoms sector. "Old monopolies and cosy cartels have no place in the market," he said, revealing that the Government's next Utility Bill will place a new primary duty on the telecoms regulator to protect the interests of consumers through promoting competition." Brown also underlined the government's commitment to retaining equality across society when it comes to access to IT facilities. Among the schemes unveiled was a plan to provide tax incentives to employees that borrow PCs from employers. Bob Geldof, co-founder of Deckchair.com and fellow speaker at the New Statesman and WPP-sponsored meeting, said: "I think they've cottoned-on to the fact that we're entering something as profound as the industrial revolution. When we have a situation where the US commands 80 per cent of business and Europe the rest, you've really got to do something drastic."