UK flags fresh infrastructure spending to help boost output

By Simon Jessop, Carolyn Cohn and David Milliken LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's finance minister freed up an extra 23 billion pounds on Wednesday to invest in rail, telecoms and housing infrastructure over the next five years to help boost the country's output. The National Productivity Investment Fund will be spent on infrastructure and research and development including on science and technology, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said in his first Autumn Statement address to parliament.