Britain to allocate $116 billion to R&D in spending plan

LONDON (Reuters) -British finance minister Rachel Reeves will allocate 86 billion pounds ($116 billion) in this week's spending review to fund research and development, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) said on Sunday.

It said the package, funding everything from new drug treatments and longer-lasting batteries to artificial intelligence breakthroughs, would be worth over 22.5 billion pounds a year by 2029/30, driving new jobs and economic growth.

Reeves will divide more than 2 trillion pounds ($2.7 trillion) of public money between her ministerial colleagues on Wednesday, making choices that will define what the year-old Labour government can achieve in the next four years.

The DSIT said the announcement on R&D follows Reeves' commitment last week to 15.6 billion pounds of government investment in local transport in city regions in the Northern England, Midlands and the South West.

($1 = 0.7398 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey, Editing by Louise Heavens)