The government has only ring-fenced half the money it has pledged to help the deployment of super-fast broadband in rural parts of the UK, culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has admitted.

Some £530 million has been set aside over the course of the current parliament by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition to pay for work to improve the country's existing broadband infrastructure.

However, a letter sent by Mr Hunt to MPs has now revealed that local authorities will be charged with finding a further £530 million themselves, either from their own budgets, European funding or private investment.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the politician explained financial support for broadband deployments will be assigned "entirely based on need" and said bidders will need to show how they intend to ensure universal 2Mbps speeds, as well as 90 per cent super-fast broadband access.

Each local authority's funding allocation will be announced in time for the House of Commons's summer recess, Mr Hunt revealed.

He went on to state that the programme of regional support will speed up the rollout process, as it will create "tremendous peer pressure" between neighbouring councils.

Responding to the development, shadow business minister Ian Lucas accused the culture secretary of "managing down expectations" and failing to provide the necessary investment to encourage the growth of faster broadband networks.

Under the proposals, universal broadband will not be achieved until 2015 - three years later than was planned under the Labour government, Mr Lucas noted.

Furthermore, he pointed out that even when 2015 arrives, one in ten consumers will still be without next-generation broadband access.

"Crucially, the government is only putting in half of the public money required - meaning local authorities struggling to cope with the government's cuts in other areas have to find the rest or face being left behind," the Wrexham MP added.

"The Tory-led government's proposals will do nothing to halt the broadband divide across the UK and will act as a brake on business growth." 

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