Nadine Dorries must answer for digital delay – The Yorkshire Post says

NADINE DORRIES offered a curious explanation when Rishi Sunak missed Prime Minister’s Questions last week – and then appeared to wait several hours before issuing very lukewarm support for Boris Johnson over the so-called ‘partygate’ scandal.
By YP Comment
Published 19th Jan 2022, 11:22 BST
Is the Government giving sufficient attention to the issue of digital connectivity in rural areas?Is the Government giving sufficient attention to the issue of digital connectivity in rural areas?
Is the Government giving sufficient attention to the issue of digital connectivity in rural areas?

The Culture Secretary observed that the Chancellor, and current favourite to succeed the PM, was visiting a business in Ilfracombe and that the delayed response was not a surprise because internet coverage is patchy in remote areas such as North Devon.

Why Rishi Sunak snubbed Boris Johnson at PMQs with timely Devon trip as ‘partygate’ scandal grows – Tom Richmond

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This admission is now more relevant from a policy-making perspective after Parliament’s highly influential Public Accounts Committee said it is unconvinced about the ability of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, headed by Ms Dorries, to even meet its downgraded targets for the rollout of super-fast, “gigabit” broadband.

Nadine Dorries is the Culture Secretary.Nadine Dorries is the Culture Secretary.
Nadine Dorries is the Culture Secretary.

In a strongly-worded warning, it says the new objective of full coverage by 2030, as opposed to the initial target of 2025, still “does not cover the very hardest to reach areas, which include around 134,000 premises” and there is still no plan for reaching communities where it is commercially unviable to do so.

Yet, while Ms Dorries focuses on playing party politics over the BBC’s future funding as part of a cynical Cabinet ploy to shift the focus away from Mr Johnson’s scandals, she neglects the fact that digital connectivity is even more important as the dynamics of the economy change following the pandemic, and that she needs to take this aspect of her portfolio far more seriously after accepting that rural areas have second class coverage.

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Related topics:Nadine DorriesBoris JohnsonPrime MinisterQuestionsYorkshire Post

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