"Green" spending to get £500 mln boost

By Sumeet Desai

LONDON (Reuters) - Chancellor Alistair Darling is expected to boost spending on green measures by some 500 million pounds in Wednesday's budget, a government source told Reuters on Sunday.

The source said the new money spent on green initiatives, a similar amount to that announced in the November pre-budget report, would help foster a green economic recovery as the low carbon sector will expand greatly over the next few years.

The cash would be used to promote energy efficiency for businesses and households, as well as support for small-scale energy technologies and community energy projects.

The money would also be used to ensure important energy projects in the pipeline are not delayed.

Darling is due to deliver his annual budget statement on Wednesday. He has to balance the demands of a rapidly shrinking economy and those of an election that must take place next year.

Darling issued a video on Sunday on the YouTube website in which he promised to "invest in Britain's future to ensure that we can take advantage of the recovery when it comes."

"And it will come," he said. "I'm confident about that because I think we have underlying strengths we can play to so there are good jobs and good prospects for the future."

In addition, the budget will likely feature more details of the government's plans to offer full or partial guarantees to be attached to eligible triple-A rated asset-backed securities in a bid to ensure that credit markets flow freely again.