Rural communities left in the broadband slow lane-Farron

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 24th Jun 2009

More action needs to be taken to ensure that those living in rural areas of the UK are given high speed broadband according to South Lakes MP Tim Farron.

Mr Farron was responding to a report issued today by the Commission for Rural Communities on rural broadband, which revealed that over 40% of the rural population in England are currently struggling on speeds below 2Mbps.

The CRC's report comes one week after the recently published Digital Britain report, which laid out the government's strategy for broadband and digital content

Commenting Mr Farron said:

"Having access to high speed broadband is extremely important for rural communities and local businesses. One third of people working from home live in rural areas, but they are hamstrung by the poor quality of broadband service in many rural areas.

"What we have at the moment is a two-tier system of broadband that penalises those living in communities such as ours. The government has a responsibility to take action to ensure that rural England is not left in the broadband slow lane.

"The government should be working to create a broadband infrastructure for the rural community to provide businesses and entrepreneurs with the best opportunity to help them to take the lead in getting through this economic crisis."