Review of Labour’s rural policy
As part of its series of events with Labour’s shadow ministerial team, Labour in Communications recently heard from Shadow Environment Secretary Luke Pollard.
Luke spoke clearly about the importance of listening to rural voters and confirmed that the party was about to launch a major review of its policies for rural communities across England. This review has now been launched and, as a Labour supporter originally from the countryside, I’m encouraged that the party finally recognises that rural voters stand to be a valuable party of any future election-winning coalition.
Now isn’t the first time the party has flirted with rural voters, but it is the first time in recent years that the party leadership has so clearly indicated that a genuine national strategy will be developed for these communities. There are many people to thank for getting Labour to this stage.
Maria Eagle was, of course, behind the seminal 2015 report which recognised the party’s “dire electoral performance in rural Britain”, while Labour Coast and Country have done sterling work in raising the issue up the internal agenda. External organisations from the Countryside Alliance to the Yorkshire Post have all taken notice too.
I have first-hand experience of how Labour can win over rural voters. When campaigning to re-elect Luke’s predecessor as Shadow Environment Secretary, Sue Hayman, in my home seat of Workington in 2019, I was struck by how many positive conversations were had with voters in the more rural parts of the constituency. Issues of connectivity, transportation and rural isolation all came up proactively on doorsteps. And most striking at this election was how, finally, local farmers’ fields weren’t exclusively the home of Vote Conservative billboards.
Yet despite all of this, for many years, rural communities have sometimes felt like an afterthought for the party. Even now, we talk endlessly, and rightly so, of the ‘red wall’ but too often these communities are framed in terms of urban town centres and deindustrialisation, when in reality many are technically rural or are constituencies with large rural communities.
This is now changing, with Keir Starmer’s appearance at the NFU Conference in February (the first Labour Leader to address the conference since 2008) a clear sign of purpose of a fresh direction for the party. Referencing Maria Eagle’s report, Keir told the conference that “from now on, British farming and the countryside will never be an afterthought for Labour again”.
Such a move is desperately needed, not just because of the potential electoral benefits but also because of the Conservatives’ mismanagement of issues affecting rural communities throughout their time in office.
Austerity has hit rural communities particularly hard, with cuts to transportation, healthcare and police acutely felt. Jeremy Corbyn was mocked by many for focusing on buses during a PMQs session at the height of the Brexit dramas, but he was right – this is the kind issue which matters to people. If you’ve ever complained about missing a bus in London, try having to wait many hours or longer for the next service. This is reality for many in our rural communities.
And that’s before we even get to agriculture. New trade deals may threaten the livelihoods of many farmers, with emerging divisions between the Truss and Gove wings of the Conservative Party presenting an opportunity for Labour, or may start a race to the bottom on standards which go against many of our great British principles.
Labour talks about wanting to make Britain the “best country to grow up in and the best country to grow old in”. This can only be achieved if we offer a programme which is genuinely radical and one which appeals to the country at large, bridging the divide between north and south as well as our cities, towns, and more rural communities. Labour’s Rural Policy Review is an effective step in this right direction.
Thomas Messenger
ENGINE | MHP