Any chance of small businesses in IT being hit with a broadband tax in the coming months would be null and void should the Conservative Party beat their Labour rivals in the upcoming general election, it has been claimed.

In an interview with the Financial Times, shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt claimed that his party would ensure that Tories would get rid of the 50p-a-month payment which everyone using the service would have to add to their existing bill.

The plan to charge £6 a year to users of broadband along the same lines as the government's Digital Britain strategy, which aims to roll out super-fast broadband across the country to allow the UK's small businesses in IT to thrive with improved connectivity.

However, the tax has been added to the Tory hitlist, which also includes ID cards and the BBC's one-corporation ownership of the BBC licence fee, which the Conservatives believe should be shared out with other broadcasters.

Other stages of the current Digital Britain plan will see full digital radio implemented by the end of 2015, as well as a revised digital remit for Channel 4.

In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were guaranteed response times and allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues.