Speaking in London to an audience of business leaders and web gurus about how well prepared the UK is to deal with the net revolution, he issued an internet "wake-up call" to Britain.

Listen to Gordon Brown's speech in full

He said that within three years he wanted the UK to be the world's best environment for electronic commerce.

To help maximise the number of people who have access to the internet, he launched an initiative to make computers available to 100,000 low-income families for as little as �5 a month.

He told the UK Internet Summit: "We could have a society divided between the information haves and information have nots, a society with a wired up superclass and an information underclass.

"Therefore, we are going to help people buy computers and we are going to help them train. I want Britain to lead the world in getting people online."

New businesses

Mr Brown also announced a relaxation of rules to make it easier to gain access to start-up funding for small companies in growing sectors, such as IT.

"Anyone left out of the computer revolution may not get a job"

He also changed tax rules to allow employees who borrow computers from work for personal use to escape facing extra tax on a "benefit in kind".

He said this would benefit at least 300,000 employees.

Money to fund the new initiative will come from the previously announced �1.7bn national IT strategy.

Avoiding inequalities

Mr Brown told the summit: "No one should be without computer or IT skills.

Gordon Brown: "No information underclass"

"As we enter the next century, we must make sure that nobody is left out of the computer revolution.

"We cannot allow inequalities in access to computers to lead to inequality in life for the next generation.

"Anyone left out of the new knowledge revolution will be left behind in the new knowledge economy, so we will pioneer a system so people will be able to borrow computers and software in the new century the way local libraries have lent books in this century."

The government said that it would be negotiating with companies, community groups and charities to provide the computers.

The Treasury hopes they can then be leased for a "nominal" fee, starting at �5 a month.

The computers will be available to families of the unemployed or where people are claiming benefits such as the working families' tax credit.

They will be older models refurbished with the latest chips and memory capacity, and modems for internet access.

The scheme was broadly welcomed by the Conservative technology spokesman, Alan Duncan, although he said the government should do more to bring down telephone bills for internet users.