HOLIDAYMAKERS heading to Europe in the wake of a no-deal Brexit could find their phone bill sky rocketing, as the UK Government confirmed it would mean the re-introduction of high roaming charges.
Answering an urgent question from Labour in Parliament yesterday, the Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright said there was nothing Whitehall could do to stop phone companies charging.
Shadow culture secretary, Tom Watson disagreed, saying that ministers had opted to “cave to the lobbying might of telecoms companies rather than listen to the voice of consumers who are set to lose out”.
The news first emerged on Wednesday, hidden away in a note accompanying a statutory instrument, a form of secondary legislation. It said that consumer groups had urged ministers to keep laws preventing roaming charges in the event of a no deal, but that “after careful consideration, the Government decided not to adopt this proposal”.
Wright told the Commons: “The availability and pricing of mobile roaming in the EU would be a commercial question for the mobile operators, and many mobile operators, including those who cover over 85% of mobile subscribers, have already said they have no current plans to change their approach to mobile roaming after the EU leaves the EU.”
Watson said those assurances were meaningless: “He and I both know, and more importantly voters know, what that phrase really means.
“The reason the EU introduced free roaming in the first place is because the telecoms companies could not be trusted to give consumers a fair deal,”
The SNP’s Kirsty Blackman accused Wright of not being upfront: “What the Government’s 85% statistic tells us is that 15% of customers will definitely be charged extra while roaming in the EU,” she said.
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