LONDON, June 27: Britain’s government promised on Thursday to upgrade roads and carry out what it said was the biggest rail investment in more than 100 years in a strategy to get the economy growing while keeping spending tight.

A day after finance minister George Osborne announced the latest round of budget cuts, his deputy, Danny Alexander, detailed £100 billion in capital investment plans, calling them “the most comprehensive, ambitious and long-lasting” ever.

Britain’s economy is still struggling to generate growth to help narrow one of Europe’s biggest budget deficits. Living standards suffered their biggest drop in a generation at the start of 2013, data showed on Thursday.

Alexander said £28bn would be spent by the government on improving roads from 2014 to 2020 — including enough cash to resurface 21,000 miles — and that it would support £30bn in rail investments.

A long-awaited announcement of a guaranteed electricity price for renewable energy investors was aimed at making investments in technologies more attractive and less risky to private operators.—Reuters