Labour MPs and CLA send ‘rural’ message to Andy Burnham

With Labour leader elect Andy Burnham set to become prime minister next Monday (20 July), backbench MPs have teamed up with the Country, Land and Business Association (CLA) to deliver a “ready-made plan” for the rural economy.

The report (opens in PDF) from the Labour Rural Research Group of 40-plus Labour MPs, supported by the CLA, says a Burnham government “reset” must include a new approach to rural Britain if the country as a whole is to benefit.

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Writing in the introduction, CLA president Gavin Lane says: “For too long, rural Britain has felt seen not as a partner in a united national mission, but as a target – most starkly through inheritance tax changes that have already collapsed investment on businesses up and down the country.

“Reversing that change is not a niche request; it is a precondition for the confidence that real investment requires.”

Labour costs are also identified as another growing pressure point, while planning restrictions are seen as a consistent barrier to business development, innovation and local job creation.

“Rural communities are too often treated as ‘peripheral’ to national economic policy, despite their central role in delivering for food security, clean energy, housing, nature recovery and long-term growth,” says the Future of the Rural Economy report.

Polling

According to polling to accompany the report, two-thirds of the population say the government should make the rural economy a higher priority than in recent years, with 77% saying they supported extra investment in farming to improve food security.

Just 27%, however, were confident a new Burnham government will actually strengthen its offer to rural communities.

The report concludes that rural Britain is not economically weak, but economically constrained.

For example, its share of national output has fallen from about 19% in 2001 to approximately 12% today, while productivity in rural areas is about 92% of the England average, indicating an 8% “productivity gap”.

This is attributed to weaker infrastructure, poor transport links, housing shortages, labour market pressures, planning delays, limited access to finance and unequal access to public services.

“Closing this gap could generate an estimated £22.5bn in additional economic output,” it says.

Recommendations 

To achieve this, the report makes some 27 recommendations, including strengthening “rural proofing” across all government departments; creating a bespoke rural innovation and productivity programme; expanding permitted development rights for farm diversification and water storage; and providing long-term certainty for Environmental Land Management schemes.

James Naish, vice-chairman of the Labour Rural Research Group, and lead author of the report said: “Rural communities shouldn’t be seen as peripheral to national renewal – they are places where growth can be generated, productivity unlocked and national priorities delivered, from food security, nature restoration and flood mitigation to new housing and energy generation.”

Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, chairman of the Labour Rural Research Group, said: “There is a clear opportunity to reset how Whitehall thinks about rural Britain.

 “The answer is not to treat rural areas as places of decline or dependency, but as strategic environmental and economic assets capable of driving growth, strengthening resilience and helping to deliver the socio-economic change the country was promised.”