Billions saved by leaving EU may bring rural broadband up to speed, Gove tells farmers

MOBILE phone and internet coverage in rural areas can be improved by investing some of the billions that will no longer be sent to Brussels after Brexit, Michael Gove has said.

The Environment Secretary said people living in the countryside should get super-fast broadband and 4G mobile phone coverage after Britain leaves the European Union, insisting that it was as important as the Government’s £60billion HS2 rail project.

Mr Gove claimed that EU “rules on state aid have prevented us from investing in broadband in a way that is best for the UK”. He also used a speech to the National Farmers’ Union conference to insist that after Brexit schools and hospitals could be free to buy British-grown food.

The Government is committed to ensuring high-speed broadband of 10Mbps is delivered to everyone in the UK by 2020, as well as plugging mobile phone black spots. But Mr Gove called for ministers to go further by using some of the £10 billion that London sends to Brussels every year. His comments were applauded by the farmers.

Mr Gove said: “It’s ridiculous that you can get better mobile phone coverage in Kenya than in parts of Kent.

“[It is] unjustifiable that in the country that first guaranteed universal mail provision, invented the telephone and television and pioneered the World Wide Web that broadband provision is so patchy and poor in so many areas.

“Daily life, especially active economic life, is becoming increasingly difficult for those without access to fast, reliable and affordable broadband.

“It is the necessary infrastructure of all our lives in these times, as essential as mains electricity or potable water.”