Boris Johnson’s ‘new’ Tory manifesto plan for mobile phone blackspots was actually agreed in last parliament
I am pleased to see that mobile and digital connectivity have found a bit of space in the election. This first article tells us:
Boris Johnson is under fire for hailing a “new” £1bn plan to end poor mobile phone signals after it emerged the deal was struck in the last parliament.
Countryside areas would no longer be dogged by so-called ‘not spots’ through a plan for companies to use each other’s masts to create a “shared rural network” by 2025, the prime minister said.
But, in a difficult BBC interview, it was pointed out that the agreement with the mobile phone firms had been reached last month.
The Conservatives had also “watered down” Mr Johnson’s pledge, when he won the Tory leadership election, to deliver full-fibre broadband to every home.
On the phones deal, Mishal Husain, the Radio 4 interviewer, told Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary: “All of this was announced back in October.”