Mandelson criticised for backing Google plan

Lord Mandelson has been accused of backing multinationals over British start-ups after the business secretary publicly endorsed a joint venture led by Google and BT to build small business websites for free.

Anger flared on Thursday when the joint venture, called Getting British Business Online, announced that it would supply website-building tools and domain names for 100,000 UK-based small businesses. Although the Department for Business is not directly funding the initiative, Lord Mandelson provided an endorsement, saying: "I wish it every success." Several UK-based companies that specialise in this market complained that the business secretary should have at least highlighted the existence of home-grown alternatives.