CULHAM: George Osborne has pledged £60m to Oxfordshire scientists building a space plane.

The Chancellor tweeted the announcement after visiting Reaction Engines in Culham.

He tweeted: “Just seen SABRE – a rocket engine that cools air from 1000 degrees to –150 in fraction of a second. We’re backing the future with £60m funding.”

Reaction Engines says the Skylon space plane will be able to reach speeds of more than 19,000 miles an hour – cutting journey times from London to Australia to just four hours. The firm declined to comment until the UK Space Conference on July 16.