Scot Lib Dems hit out as Government abandon broadband plans for good

Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Andrew Baxter has today hit out at the Scottish Government’s decision to close the Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) to new applicants.

The scheme was introduced to support homes and businesses that could not access affordable superfast broadband through commercial provision or publicly subsidised delivery programmes and connected around 6,300 premises out of the 112,939 targeted for delivery under the government’s “R100 plan” for delivering superfast broadband to the hardest-to-reach parts of Scotland.

However an update from the Scottish Government’s Digital Directorate to MSPs says:

“Following a review of market conditions, SBVS will close to new applications from 20 November 2026”

This comes despite recent figures suggesting thousands of connections remain undelivered.

According to the Scottish Government’s latest R100 data update, Aberdeenshire has more than 3,000 properties still unconnected, Angus has more than 4,600 properties unconnected, Argyll & Bute has around 2,500 and Highland has more than 5,500.

Highland MSP Andrew Baxter said:

“The voucher scheme was supposed to be a back up after the original R100 scheme fell short.

“The government have now abandoned the broadband voucher scheme even though thousands of households in the Highlands and North East remain unconnected.

“We’re now five years past the deadline the Government set themselves to get this job done. It reeks of disinterest.

“With this scheme closing, the Government need to set out how they plan to meet their original promise so that my constituents can benefit from superfast broadband at last.”