Gordon Brown, chancellor of the UK exchequer, has doubled tax relief on venture capital trusts in a bid to support investment in the country's young companies.

Brown, delivering his annual budget, said he was increasing the income tax relief on investments in venture capital trusts from 20% to 40%. For most individual investors, this means that putting £20,000 (€29,659) into a venture capital trust will reduce their tax bill by £3,200, twice as much as it would have done before.