WATCH: Stella Creasy on free broadband policy post-Covid

Labour MP Stella Creasy has commented on the idea that Labour’s 2019 general election free broadband policy may have more appeal after the coronavirus crisis highlighted the digital divide.

Asked on Politics Live whether Labour’s ‘free broadband for all’ pledge should be kept, Creasy said: “I have to say I was sceptical in that campaign.” She noted that there was no policy to make water free.

“However, I think things have changed in terms of the importance of accessing broadband. If this is going to be the new normal, then clearly this is going to be a new inequality,” she added.

“I think there are ways in which we can deal with the pricing. It’s partly about the competition for it. I’m also a Co-op as well as Labour MP, I’d like to see more co-operative provision of broadband.

“But fundamentally there is a difference between the pricing and the access to it. It’s no good saying it’s free if the quality… isn’t there.”

Will Labour keep to its 2019 election campaign pledge of free broadband for all?

“I was sceptical in that campaign” says MP Stella Creasy “There are ways we can deal with the pricing”#Politics Live https://t.co/QXHpQBgJgq pic.twitter.com/Jw2ghpiXtG

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) June 17, 2020