SNP 2026 Manifesto Dangles Possible Subsea Fibre Cable to Shetland Islands

The Scottish National Party (Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba) has today published details of their 2026 Manifesto for the 7th May election, which among other things calls on the UK Government to “introduce affordable broadband social tariffs” and pledges to commission a feasibility study on the idea of running another subsea fibre link to the Shetland Islands.

Shetland – a remote subarctic archipelago that resides some way north of Scotland – is currently already connected by two major subsea fibre cables, including the SHEFA-2 (Faroese Telecom) submarine (subsea) and the R100 North cable that was recently built by broadband giant BT as part of the Scottish Government’s £600m Reaching 100% (R100) project (here). The R100 project also deployed a number of smaller subsea fibre links between mainland Shetland and its smaller islands.

Despite this Shetland has suffered from a number of recent subsea cable breaks, which caused plenty of disruption to parts of the island’s broadband and mobile services. The SNP doesn’t mention those problems in their 2026 manifesto or make a solid commitment to actually build the new cable, but we presume their ambition is to improve redundancy to the island communities.

2026 SNP Manifesto Extract

Digital Economy

We will accelerate the rollout of full fibre broadband in Scotland by supporting providers to reach more rural/remote areas. We will establish a digital skills development initiative, to empower digitally excluded people to gain the skills necessary to access digital services and employment opportunities.

We will also commission a feasibility study to explore potential options for a subsea cable between Shetland and mainland Scotland which would provide high-speed internet and telecommunications for businesses and communities across the island.

We should point out that VodafoneThree UK are already conducting a “feasibility study” to explore the possibility and cost of deploying a new subsea fibre optic cable system to help transform broadband and mobile connectivity in the Shetland Islands (here), although it remains unclear whether that will amount to anything.

In addition, the manifesto pledged to “deliver a Digital inclusion Action Plan and call on the UK Government to introduce affordable broadband social tariffs,” although a large number of broadband and mobile providers have already introduced some very affordable Social Tariffs. Suffice to say it’s unclear precisely what the SNP are looking to do that’s different from what already exists, particularly when the main problem is still a lack of awareness rather than a lack of Social Tariff choice.