BT internet down: Many users unable to get online as provider hit by problems just after being told to fix its service

It isn't clear what the problems are being caused by or when they will be fixed

Unless we engineer for the future we risk long-term stagnation (Getty)

Many people have been left unable to get on the internet in the UK.

An outage at BT broadband has meant that many people who use the service aren’t able to get online, or are having trouble connecting to sites.

The issues began around 9.30am. It isn’t clear what they are being caused by or when they will be fixed.

A spokesman said the problems appeared to be mainly affecting London and the South East - but the website Down Detector has already received thousands of reports from the capital, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, Milton Keynes, Leeds, Bristol, Nottingham and Leicester.

BT's customer support Twitter account said it was attempting to restore service as quickly as possible.

The company said: "Some BT Broadband customers have reported problems accessing websites this morning. Sorry, we're aware of a problem & working to fix asap."

The outage comes a day after MPs warned that BT must "put its house in order" or face a break-up after failing to invest in its Openreach network arm potentially to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds a year.

Additional reporting by agencies