Built on discussions, members meetings and wider engagement with Labour members from across the country, as well as a number of round tables with Labour MPs we have sent the following submissions to this year's National Policy Forum consultation: Early Years, Education and Skills Economy, Business and Trade Environment, Energy and Culture Health and Social Care…
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…
I have spent decades arguing the case for better investment by the government into our rural areas. Here are my thoughts on this subject in the current climate. I readily accept that there is significant inter-dependence between urban and rural areas and that the City of London, and Northern Powerhouse are obviously major contributors to…
Rural economies are not just like urban ones but with less people and more cows, they are distinctive, providing not just livelihoods for rural dwellers but increasingly locations for business start-ups, often digitally enabled. The countryside and its landscapes and wildlife is one of England’s greatest assets and many people choose to live in rural…
Local Government is at the heart of local communities. Councils look after the most vulnerable in society and make local spaces greener, cleaner and safer. Yet over the last nine years this disastrous Tory government has targeted its austerity agenda at the most deprived areas of the country including many costal and rural areas. This…
A few weeks ago I was sat in the Home Room in the House of Lords having a conversation over dinner about the “digital village”. It is a classic wood-panelled room with a long wooden table set for dinner with white table linen, House of Lords crockery and plenty of wine glasses. There were…
When people talk of the Southeast region of England, it can often come across in two distinct ways. One way people mention the area is in a pejorative way, alluding to the region’s perceived blandness, as if it were the magnolia paint of British regions. On the other hand, it can sometimes sound as if…
You can’t cut 49% from council support and expect everything to keep humming. It wasn’t as though when Cameron and Clegg rode their big blue and yellow bulldozers into power that councillors were saying “Hi guys, we have loads of slack, so plough down local services, they don’t matter and we can take it.” All…
