THERE were red faces for the Tories yesterday after Theresa May attacked the Scottish Government over superfast broadband rollout – despite it being an issue that’s reserved to Whitehall.

The Scottish Government says the only reason it is involved is the UK Government’s “lack of ambition” in rolling out broadband access.

During Prime Minister’s Questions, Tory MP Luke Graham attacked the Scottish Government for not doing enough to get superfast broadband out to householders.

He said: “As of 2016, 17 per cent of the premises of in Scotland were without superfast broadband. This is compared with just 11 per cent for the UK as a whole.”

Graham then asked the Prime Minister to join with him in “calling on the Scottish Government to do more and to constructively engage with departments in Westminster to deliver this crucial service to com-munities in Scotland”.

The Prime Minister replied: “Can I say to my honourable friend, I think we all recognise the importance of broadband and fast broadband being available to people in our constituencies.

“But he’s absolutely right, the members of the Scottish National Party come down here to Westminster, they spend a lot of time talking about powers for the Scottish Government. Actually it’s time the Scottish Government got on with using its powers for the benefit of the people in Scotland.”

Fergus Ewing hit back: “These claims are entirely false. Our commitment to deliver 100 per cent superfast broadband access across Scotland by the end of 2021 is unique across the UK, and Ofcom’s Connected Nations Report 2016 highlighted that superfast broadband coverage in Scotland had seen the largest increase across the UK in the previous 12 months.

“While telecoms is wholly reserved to Westminster, the Scottish Government has had to intervene, given the importance of high quality broadband to our economy.”

Ewing added: “The UK Government should match our ambition, and celebrate the success of the Digital Scotland programme, rather than making these false claims.”