Tom Watson, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, commenting on the announcement of an agreement for Openreach to legally separate from BT, said:

“This is a welcome announcement that must now deliver for customers, far too many of whom don’t have access to broadband or put up with a poor quality service.  

“The Government’s failure to create healthy competition in the UK’s digital market has caused the rollout of broadband to be far too slow and millions of British households and businesses have paid the price, at a cost of billions of pounds to the economy.

“While the legal separation of Openreach from BT is clearly a good thing for consumers we must also ensure it works for Openreach’s 32,000 employees and the Government must work with CWU to ensure that jobs, pensions and terms and conditions are protected.

“Now the separation has been agreed the Government must waste no time in delivering the broadband infrastructure that UK homes and businesses so badly need.”