Highlands and Islands MSP and Scottish Shadow Minister for Business Jamie Halcro Johnston has criticised the SNP for their failure to deliver on their promise to provide superfast broadband to all premises in Scotland by 2021.
During today's general questions in the Scottish Parliament, Mr Halcro Johnston questioned the Minister for Just Transition, Employment and Fair Work, Richard Lochhead, about the lack of progress on rolling out superfast broadband across his region.
Speaking later, Mr Halcro Johnston said: “Far too many of my constituents in the Highlands and Islands have been waiting for years for a service that delivers even the most basic of what they need.
“The SNP promised to deliver R100 by 2021, but it now looks like it won’t be delivered until 2028 at the earliest. Despite it being years away, ministers continue to distract from their failings and pretend all is fine.
“Our island and rural communities need the infrastructure in place to allow residents to live their lives and to support local jobs and livelihoods, and providing reliable broadband is one of the key steps towards achieving this.
“R100 joins other key SNP infrastructure failures, such the delayed A9 and A96; failures that mean homes and businesses across my Highlands and Islands region are being left behind.
“The SNP must stop passing the buck and take responsibility for their failure to deliver on their own promises.”
