UK economy has 'too few robots', warn MPs

Committee damns government for failing to encourage investment and boost productivity

The UK is lagging behind the world's other advanced economies in the shift to robots and automation in the workplace - putting jobs, businesses and the prosperity of whole regions at risk, according to an influential group of MPs.

MPs on the business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) committee said UK firms were losing out to competitors in the rest of the G7 after the government cut support for companies and failed to encourage investment.

Productivity is an economic measure of the efficiency of a workforce. It typically measures the level of output per hour of work, or per worker.