PM Theresa May to announce post-Brexit investment in transport, broadband, energy

Prime minister Theresa May is set to announce plans for the biggest investment in transport, broadband and energy in a generation to "back Britain for the long term''.

The prime minister will today launch her industrial strategy for the UK, pledging to develop new technologies across the country and make it easier for companies to do business in the country.

Spending and development of digital industries like broadband and 5G mobile technology will be central to the strategy.

The modern industrial strategy will back the UK for the long term - creating the conditions where successful businesses could emerge and grow.

She is also expected to cut red tape to ensure the regulations would not come in the way of business.

She will announce a £4.7-billion fund to pay for research and development into smart energy technologies, robotics, artificial intelligence and 5G mobile network technology, which comes as a bigger increase than in any parliament since 1979, according to Downing Street.

May will tell her first regional cabinet meeting in the north-west that to succeed after leaving the EU, the UK needed a strategy to create a group of new industries to challenge the companies of today.

Since assuming office following the UK's vote to leave the EU last year, May had pushed the concept of industrial strategy to the top of her agenda. She had created a new government department to lead the project, and also chaired a top-level cabinet committee on the subject.

Seeking to build and economy that distributed wealth more equitably, after many parts of the UK had seen industrial decay, her plan aimed at addressing a mood of disenfranchisement that drove many voters to back Brexit. It is also seeking to protect the economy from the risk that leaving the EU would limit access to its market for services like banking.