I can remember a time when the Liberals were the party representing the progressive voice of Rural Britain. Our voting base was here and Liberal MPs seemed to spend most of their time in the wild places of our islands.
As the Liberal Democrat’s we’ve widened our appeal, but in doing this we seem to have lost our rural voice to some extent.
There’s now a huge opportunity developing as this Tory government loses credibility on issues such as rural housing, broadband and transport.
The Rural Services Network organises the Rural Conference which this year is in Cheltenham 6/7th September.
If you’re a Councillor, please ask your council if you can attend – here’s the link.
It would be great to have a good representation from Lib Dems!
* Cllr Peter Thornton is a member of the Federal Policy Committee and Deputy Leader of Cumbria County Council and lead member for Finance. He is also a South Lakeland District Councillor. He chaired the Housing Policy Working Group whose paper is being debated at Autumn Conference 2023.
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2 Comments
Peter good to have a thread on rural matters.I see a major opportunity for the Lib Dems post Brexit in coming up with proposals to change the way in which agricultural are subsidies are paid.
Broadly as I understand it,subsidies are paid on an acreage basis.Hence the largest landowners get the biggest subsidies.These are often the people who say they don’t need subsidy.There is great opportunity to direct a greater proportion to smaller farmers.This can be done by having a higher per acre subsidy for smaller farms,but a lower one per acre for large landowners.Experts will know the levels that make the most sense.But announcing this principle would certainly boost our popularity in rural areas.
Peter, any idea why rural areas so overwhelmingly seem to support Tory MP’s at the moment ?