Cheltenham MP Alex Chalk welcomed the Digital Minister Matt Hancock to see the cutting edge work taking place at the town's new Cyber Accelerator.

It forms an integral part of GCHQ's new Cyber Innovation Centre which was first announced by the Chancellor in November 2015 following intense lobbying from Mr Chalk. Some £22 million of Government Growth Deal funding has been secured for infrastructure improvements.

During his visit to the Cyber Accelerator the Digital Minister heard from a selection of the businesses who are already benefitting from the pioneering incubator space available. The entrepreneurs confirmed it was the "envy of technology companies across the world".

Mr Hancock heard how a number of the businesses fly to the UK every week simply to access the expertise and state of the art working space now available in Cheltenham.

Mr Chalk said ''I am really proud that this accelerator is now up and running in our town, and the cyber vision is becoming a reality. The cyber sector is crucial to our future economic success and Cheltenham has an obvious competitive advantage.

"I brought the Digital Minister to see the innovation already taking place, and it was hugely encouraging to hear directly from the industry how this ground breaking initiative is seen internationally.

"We the need to keep up the momentum as we build a cyber cluster to rival the most established technology centres across the world.''