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Moaning Scots told 'cheer up FFS' on broadband cash

A third of the UK landmass - but 8% of the revenue

UK.gov's Secretary of State for Scotland wants the Scottish government to stop moaning about the recent rural broadband funds allocated to the country.

As we reported last week, the Scot ministers aren't happy about the £68.8m that culture secretary Jeremy Hunt splashed on the rollout of fibre optic tech in Scotland.

The country's cabinet secretary for infrastructure and capital investment, Alex Neil, grumbled that he was "disappointed" with the investment from the UK government, arguing that the money handout fell short of expectations.

On Sunday, Scottish secretary and LibDem MP Michael Moore said that ministers who occupy Andrew's House on Calton Hill in Edinburgh needed "to be more upbeat" about the broadband allocation.

"It takes a rather sour outlook to turn nearly £70m into a setback," Moore said, according to the Press Association.

"Cheer up for goodness' sake and get on with delivering the improvements to our rural communities."

Moore added that the Scottish government should stop being "negative" and instead work on matching UK.gov's funds.

"If they don't invest then they will be failing Scotland's rural communities and businesses."

But Neil was quick to reject Moore's comments by saying the Scottish secretary appeared "unaware that this funding allocation doesn't reflect the fact that Scotland has a third of the UK landmass and some of the most remote areas in these islands." ®

Bootnote

Scotland contributes a little more than 8 per cent of UK revenues according to the latest figures. The £68.8m that Hunt assigned represented just under 13 per cent of the total £530m available, a fifty per cent markup on what the Scots should have got on a pro rata basis.

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