The claim – super-fast broadband for a tiny Caribbean island despite terrible connection speeds in the UK
DFID is blowing the fortune to construct an underwater fibre optic cable to the volcanic island of Montserrat, which has a population of just 4,900
The (UK) Sun
By Harry Cole, Wesminister correspondent
The Department for International Development has earmarked £4.94 million to the project, with just £50,955 per year coming from private sector internet providers.
Our revelation comes just days after the Theresa May was forced to defend Britain doling out billions in cash payments direct to poor families in Pakistan.
Critics said Britain was effectively “exporting the dole”.
Tiny Montserrat, a British overseas territory, is just 39 square miles.
It suffered a devastating volcanic eruption 19 years ago, cutting off the internet.
Millions will be spent on wiring up islanders on Montserrat
Two thirds of the island’s population was forced to flee by 2000, many to Britain.
A new submarine Fibre Optic cable will be laid between Montserrat and the neighbouring islands of St Kitts and Antigua.
The Government of Montserrat will contribute £150,000 from its European Development Fund grant toward the project – however almost half of this cash has already been sent on consultancy fees.
By Robin Perrie
Web designer Stephen Smith, 63, of Cliviger, Lancs, said: “Trying to work from home and access the internet, upload and download material is impossible.
The stunning island of Montserrat is just 39 square miles
“If I had to download a movie-size file it would take me seven hours. It’s ridiculous.
“I end up putting the information on a memory stick and going into town because it is quicker.”
Superfast broadband is available in the town of Milnthorpe, Cumbria, but locals still complain that it is ridiculously slow.
Barmaid Lydia Troughton, 18, said: “Broadband is rubbish here. The download speeds are awful. We have a smart TV with Netflix but after ten minutes it starts buffering all the way through.
Tory MP Grant Shapps hit out at the spending
“We shouldn’t be putting money elsewhere when there is so much to do here in getting the broadband working.”
Builder Mike Coulson, 51, said: “The foreign aid is just a joke. We should be looking after ourselves first and sort out our own broadband instead of giving it to people in other countries.”
Pub landlord Chris Million, 34, said: “We need the internet to take payments in the pub and it just stops working for days at a time.
“They say we should get 10Mbps but we only get four and that is when it is working.
“This is our money we have paid as taxpayers. Why should it benefit other people?”
Locals in rural Northumberland also complained of slow speeds.
Cafe boss Joanne Heslop, 43, of Bellingham, Northumberland, said: “We lose custom because we refuse to put broadband in but we don’t want to pay for a service which is so poor.
“It makes you angry that you have paid your taxes and the government are sending that money to another country.“
Shop owner Charlotte Brown, 29, said: “We haven’t got the card machine running through wifi because it’s just not worth it. It keeps cutting out when people are trying to pay.
“Why would they spend money in the Caribbean when we need it in this country? It’s ludicrous.”
Factory worker Chris Hughes, 26, said: “I think they should think of their own first.”
Waitress Jessica Mullen, 20, said: “I have internet at home and we have to have boosters on every floor of the house. It’s slow and it crashes depending on how many people are on it.
“We need to sort ourselves out before everyone else and I think the £5m would be better spent in areas like this.”
The UK’s “Business Case” for the project admits that the private sector “perceives the risk/return profile” to be “unworkable without some form of public support” — so the British taxpayer will pick up the rest of the bill.
The Government claim that the massive cash injection will boost “economic growth and international investment and will, in the longer-term, reduce reliance on UK budgetary aid.”
But Last night Tory MP David Morris said “it’s concerning that when so many rural areas on the British mainland can’t get online properly, so much cash is going overseas for broadband.”
Britain pays £5 MILLION to ‘Ethiopian Spice Girls’ Yegna to broadcast their own chat show
1.4 million UK homes and offices remain unable to sign up for broadband speeds over 10Mbit/s — the speed recognised to meet a typical household’s digital needs.
While this is down from 2.4 million a one year, it still represents five per cent of British properties.
Rural areas still lag behind Britain’s cities and towns for decent connection.
Around a quarter of properties in the countryside, almost 920,000, cannot receive a satisfactory connection.
Former DFID minister Grant Shapps hit out: “It will be far easier to maintain support for overseas aid if we can get our own infrastructure needs in order.
The Tory MP who heads up the BIG infrastructure campaign added: “Super speed broadband isn’t just some nice to have extra, it’s vital to British success outside of the EU and we need to get every British home and business connected and world beating speeds.”
Last night a DFID spokesman said: “Following the devastating eruption in the UK overseas territory, we’ve met our legal obligations to Montserrat by investing in the vital infrastructure needed for the island to stand on its own two feet again.”
Anita Harris reacted in the Comments Section after the article and wrote:
Montserrat is one of the few Caribbean Islands which is still a part of the so called British Empire. It is not independent and therefore a dependency. The residents consider themselves just as British as you as they were colonised by you. You are quite happy to pay for a resident governor whose role is to represent the queen, but she receives a huge salary, at least £65,000 per annum as well as travelling expenses, accommodation and food allowances and a generous entertainment budget. She makes around two appearances a year, she dances in the Christmas and new year parade and another appearance at St Patrick’s day in March.
You are also happy for DFID to be resident on the island also at the expense of British tax payers, how come you don’t report or complain about that? They receive the same allowances as the governor. but only less.
The only reason that there is a resident governor on the Island is that she is protect the interests of the queen. She does nothing to enhance the lives of the Montserratians.
Right now, A new hospital is needed on the island as the present one doesn’t have the right equipment and residents are having to be airlifted to neighbouring islands for treatment. You may think that this is not the responsibility of the British, but the bitter legacy of imperialism and colonisation.
The kidnapping and abuse of over 6000,000,000 Africans and displacing them around the Caribbean and the Americas was done by you. You enjoyed the spoils of slave labour, namely sugar, rum, cotton, and lime juice to Britain from Montserrat. Marks and Spencer obtained its cotton from Montserrat for decades. You never complained then. The Europeans are barbaric and destroy everything they touch. Usually in the name of ‘Humanity and compassion”.
You are also happy for the British government to back America and fund ISIS and terrorism around the world. You are happy to fund wars that strip countries of their natural resources, hence making them dependent on you. You are also happy for ‘charities’ to use African children and guinea pigs for pharmaceutical companies to experiment with new drugs and use diseases.
I think it’s time the British and the Europeans gave serious thought to paying reparations to the Africans and the Caribbean for the genocide, the rape and destruction of their race and existence and allow them to become self-sufficient, govern themselves and keep their noses out of their business.
Comments from TMR Facebook page where we captioned the story with the comment:
“Can you see past the ignorance…or is it hate and possibly something else?”
Elizabeth Radford – Caribbean Sadly it’s ignorance…..spelt out by that photo (referring to the first pic in the article which is of some other island)
Nicholas Pnematicatos Typical Sun Montserrat is British territory they are entitled to our money.
See also: Dissecting a smear – Fibre Optics Facts vs UK Tabloids
