The Scottish Government has been blasted for “boasting” about its superfast broadband roll-out after figures showed almost 9,000 Angus properties still did not have access to it.
The county’s Conservative MP Kirstene Hair was responding to a new report published by Ofcom, which also showed 4,078 properties in Angus do not have a broadband speed of 10 Mb/s — the level deemed necessary for an average family.
The industry regulator found more than 15% of premises were unable to receive a broadband connection of more than 30Mb/s.
The information comes just days after the Scottish Minister in charge of delivering superfast broadband, Fergus Ewing MSP, boasted that the Scottish Government’s progress had been “remarkable.”
Ms Hair said: “I was astonished when the SNP Minister sat in front of the Scottish Affairs Committee and boasted about how well the Scottish Government were doing with broadband delivery.
“While Scotland as a whole may be slowly catching up with the rest of the UK, the reality in Angus is that far too many people are still without a decent broadband connection.
“This hasn’t been helped by the fact that the Scottish Government has sat on more than £20m in funding for broadband, given to it by the UK Government in 2014.
“In this day and age, a decent internet connection is a necessity, not a luxury, which is why it was the right move by the UK Government to create a universal service obligation and to work directly with local authorities for the next phase of broadband delivery.
“People in my constituency still waiting for superfast broadband will view the SNP’s boasting as remarkable.”
In November the Angus MP and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon took to social media in a spat over broadband speeds in Scotland.
The First Minister accused Ms Hair of “breathtaking ignorance of reality” on that occasion.
Spokesperson for Rural Economy and Connectivity Secretary Fergus Ewing said:“It is the SNP Government which is committed to extending superfast broadband to 100% of premises in Scotland – unlike the Tories, who have given no such pledge for the rest of the UK.
“Independent figures show that since our Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme began in April 2014, coverage in Perth & Kinross has risen from 39.7% to 84.3%, while in Angus, the increase has been from 62.2% to 85.6%.
“That is the reality of what we are delivering, in contrast to Scottish Tories who carp from the sidelines instead of pressing their own government at Westminster to give Scotland a fair share of funding for broadband.
“The Tory claims on the £21 million funding are entirely false, as it could not have been used effectively before now because of the UK government’s delay in reaching agreement with the EU.”
