Official figures show that people's earnings still strongly govern whether they are able to log on.
Regional differences also dictate levels of internet access, with London and the South East leading the way. The knowledge economy must be an economy for the many and not the few. Universal internet access has to be available to all. The government's plans to aid internet access were revealed at Labour's first party conference after gaining power, when Mr Blair promised a computer in every classroom by 2002. And public libraries received almost 3m for information technology projects, mostly in deprived urban communities or rural areas.