Rural Broadband: Installation Debate
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Alex Brewer
Main Page: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)Department Debates - View all Alex Brewer's debates with the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology
Rural Broadband: Installation
Alex Brewer Excerpts(1 day, 10 hours ago)
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Sir Ashley Fox
I am grateful to the hon. Lady for raising that point.
The lack of reliable broadband discourages innovation and investment, and pushes people towards cities and towns—not because they want to leave their beautiful, rural life, but because they feel they have no real choice.
The hon. Member for Monmouthshire (Catherine Fookes) anticipated my next point: it is not only businesses that suffer. Families struggle to access online education, healthcare services and remote work opportunities. Young people are placed at a disadvantage simply because of where they live.
Alex Brewer (North East Hampshire) (LD)
My semi-rural constituency is less than an hour from London, so people would think the broadband would be tip-top, but it is far from it. In some areas, speeds are less than 1 megabit per second. As we have discussed, this prevents businesses from holding online meetings and so on, but it also means that, for example, students cannot go home in the holidays to stay with their parents because they simply cannot complete their studies. Does the hon. Member agree that high-speed broadband is critical to this country’s infrastructure and that the Government have a duty not to leave rural communities behind?
Sir Ashley Fox
I thank the hon. Lady for raising that point, and I agree with her. That is why I started my speech with a reference to electricity being rolled out to the last few villages in the 1940s. We would think that was extraordinary nowadays. The Government certainly have a duty to roll out broadband to the whole country.
The previous Government had a good record on rolling out gigabit broadband throughout the UK. In 2018, full-fibre coverage stood at 6% of UK households; today, the proportion is 78%, which is a remarkable transformation. But the Minister will be aware that we need that to go up to 100%, and I hope he will outline how this Government will complete the journey.