UK Election 2019: Labour pledge free broadband - BBC News

The Labour party has set out ambitious plans to provide free full-fibre broadband to every home and business in the country by 2030, if it wins the election.

Jeremy Corbyn says it would be made possible by bringing BT's Open Reach broadband business into public ownership, meaning the ongoing cost of the service would be partly funded by a new tax on technology companies, such as Facebook and Google. Boris Johnson has dismissed the proposal as a "crazed Communist scheme".

Tina Daheley presents this evening’s News at Ten with contributions from Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg and Business Editor Simon Jack.

[rezalucien]

Why the hell is this important?! Get homeless people off the streets, give mentally-ill people some proper treatment, do ANYTHING! This is completely irrelevant.

Not to mention the enormous privacy concerns!

[hauskalainen]

£30 month?? I live in Finland and get 10Mbs broadband for the princely sum of €3 a month.

[hanw]

Malta has free wifi everywhere, even on the bus. Which is really nice.

[AlanWattResistance]

Imagine the internet being in the hands of the Labour party, lol.

[isoaqua]

Tax the IT companys 2 pay for it 🔥🔥🔥 it's a great policy.

[royals]

Why not try free water as an alternative?

[Longshanks]

I’m genuinely convinced Labour will promise everyone a free speedboat by the end of the election.

[taylorma]

I’m sure the really impoverished will really appreciate surfing the internet while they starve

[jubitonvynncolo]

Interviewer: Aren’t you just addicted to spending other peoples money?
John:

[AngloSupreme]

"Scotland is ahead of the UK", I'm pretty sure Scotland is in the UK.

[epiphany]

A good general rule about public ownership is, if it's a virtual monopoly anyway and/or the taxpayer substantially subsidises it, it may as well be publicly owned and all the profits reinvested back into infrastructure. Broadband is open for debate as to whether or not it meets such criteria enough to nationalise it. It could be argued either way really. My question would be - how much innovation does private ownership really offer this service? Public vs private shouldn't be an ideological decision, rather one based on efficiency and how much private competition enriches said service.

[mielerodriguez]

I would NEVER sell my country to a FOREIGN POWER for free broadband.

[m.k.]

OK and it will be tax everything else - they don't count on Apple etc moving out of the country

[JMoon]

I'd much rather pay than take my broadband through the government sketchy af

[wjumeau]

What about a £500 gift card for Argos?

[-DC-]

Free everything ! Diane Abbott has accounted for every penny what could go wrong !

[bruceroberts]

The Scottish Government took the matter of broadband delivery in Scotland into their own hands in spite of the delivery being reserved to Westminster because the Tories were once again failing to deliver. The Scottish Government has to spend over half its budgets mitigating the failures of Tory party ideological policy and corruption. No other party would even try to do that. Labour aint doing it in Wales and the Lib Dems vote with the Tories in the lobbies of Westminster. At least in Scotland we have a real choice between ideologies. Hope over fear mitigation over vile.

[barbaradyson]

Who the hell pays for it taxpayers. How about BBC being privatised don't hear labour saying that.

[goldennugget]

Now they’re just digging their own graves

[Void-ujjd]

Utter bollocks, normal folk don't believe it.