Labour has an opportunity. For too long failure in the coast and country has been expected, and consequently the energies of the party have ignored the potential of our non-urban areas. Covid can change this; coast and country life will be dramatically altered by the aftermath of this pandemic. Thanks to Covid home-working has now…
Centuries ago, when transport for goods and travellers was most conveniently done by water, people settled in coastal towns. Later, sea ports attracted major industries like ship-building and mining. Later still, seaside centres grew up in places convenient for day trips by rail from urban centres. With the passage of time, functions change. Towns have…
The House of Lords report on ‘The Future of Seaside Towns’ published 18 months ago seems almost as relevant today as it did then. Much has happened in the intervening period. The Government announcement launching the Town Deals Fund in July 2019 with a 101 places invited to apply for up to £26m being a…
This weekend will be the first ‘first weekend of September’ in many years when I will not be in the pretty Norfolk village of Burston. This important date in the calendar for those of us in the Labour and trade union movement in East Anglia, counters the idea that our radical past was only based…
In July the SW Co-op Party and Devon Labour Campaign Forum in Devon held their summer conference focusing on Labour’s rural policy. Speakers included Luke Pollard MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs, and local members, councillors and candidates. Opening the conference Luke Pollard MP described three crises facing Britain right…
It was a privilege to join Labour Coast and Country recently to talk about how Labour can rebuild support in towns, rural areas, and coastal communities. Currently, the electoral map shows England as a sea of blue, with small clusters of red in and around our cities. Our road to power must encompass towns and…
The last few months have been particularly difficult for rural communities as they have for the rest of the country. Obviously COVID has hit rural areas particularly hard but the issue has been made worse by this Government's pursuit of a free trade deal with the US whatever the dire consequences. This has caused consternation…
The current pandemic has affected people’s lives and livelihoods in a way that, rare for a natural disaster in this country, has been felt in every part of the UK. Having experienced the horrors of Foot and Mouth Disease at the turn of the millennium, rural communities have seen something similar to the current lockdown…
We're happy to support and promote the following online session with Labour's new Rural Affairs Shadow, Daniel Zeichner MP. See below for further details and to RSVP. There are plenty of news articles about people wanting to flee the cities for rural idylls yet coronavirus has not been plain sailing for people who already live…
