Hammond under fire from tech as he pours in £550m

Chancellor Philip Hammond’s plans to inject more than £550 million into the UK’s technology sector in this week’s Budget have come under fire from industry specialists.

The funds will back growing areas such as electric vehicles and artificial intelligence, with a strategy for 5G mobile coverage.

But veteran analyst Richard Holway from TechMarket-View said the Government must ensure big tech companies hire home-grown talent instead of cheaper overseas workers with less than two years’ training.

“The problem is we’ve got to encourage companies to offer entry-level jobs,” Holway said.

“I really welcome people with the rights skills coming to work here [from abroad]. But unless we train our own people and unless people like Google and Facebook take on entry-level people we will never solve the problem.”

William Newton at web ratings firm WiredScore said Hammond must take “a more radical approach” to make sure businesses have access to high-speed internet.