Hywel Lloyd
Back in 2019 we wrote a call for action at the local elections of that year: A Manifesto for 2019: Town’s of England, your time has come. With a new Labour government experiencing a ‘do you really like rural England?’ situation akin to that of the first Blair administration, now is surely the time to apply ourselves to the creation of a meaningful rural strategy.
More people live in rural England than Greater London, and we tend to agree with the findings of Labour Together and others that farming, and farming issues, aren’t the top of the list of concerns of these people; on the list perhaps, higher in some areas than others, yet they are much more bothered by potholes wrecking their car, the lack of decent broadband, challenges getting a dentist… many of those issues Labour attends to in urban areas, and more importantly is seeking to address in the Missions.
And yet even with a slo-mo rural general election taking place between now and May’26 (the 30 English Counties in May’25 running on to elections for the Welsh and Scottish Parliaments) it isn’t clear that those Missions, and the wider day to day policies of the government, are seeking keep the support of many of those non-urban voters…
That said we are in a good starting place, with more than 14 of the 30 Counties hosting four Labour MPs (Cornwall has never had four Labour MPs), and Labour having 50% or more of the MPs in at least a dozen of those counties. So can we now address the challenges facing rural communities? When even the farmers describe their view of IHT as the last straw – time for Labour to address all the broken promises and earlier straws broken in the wake of tory governments, and fix how and what rural citizens can expect from their Labour government.
Get this right now and we can improve our chances in 2025 and 2026…
Our first steps – let’s put Rural where it belongs, not in the important yet slightly miscellaneous department that is Defra, but in either MHCLG or the Cabinet Office, ensuring Ministers of every domestic policy department can come together to show what Labour can deliver for them. A joined up set of policies that work will enhance our ability to deliver for everyone – given that Labour’s success is much more dependent on these communities and their cousins in Coastal communities than the urban, when much of nature 30 by 30, food security, new homes, renewable energy and its grid will be hosted by them – so let’s ensure that a rural strategy joins up the Missions, for the greater good, as well as the future success of Labour in Government.
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