AN election candidate has met with a government minister to stress the need for better broadband speeds.

Conservative candidate for Richmond, Rishi Sunak, met with Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Sajid Javid to discuss local connectivity.

Mr Sunak said he impressed upon the minister the need to improve mobile and broadband coverage across Richmondshire and Hambleton.

Mr Sunak said: “I want to see great connectivity in every corner of our rural constituency. Families want to stay in touch, small businesses should be able to export across the world and farmers need to complete their DEFRA returns.”

The Secretary of State said: “It was helpful for me to hear from Rishi first-hand about the experience of areas like Wensleydale, Bilsdale and other rural communities across the constituency. I can see that improving connectivity is a major priority for Rishi and we discussed the most effective ways to make this happen.”

Using Government and local funding, North Yorkshire County Council aims to bring high speed broadband to 90 per cent of households in North Yorkshire by the end of 2016.

Mr Sunak said the Government had also forced the mobile phone companies to invest £5 billion by 2017 to improve their networks and reduce areas of no coverage by two thirds.

However, the candidate said a survey of residents in the Richmond constituency revealed that almost 50 per cent of respondents wanted to see improvements to their mobile and broadband coverage.