Labour told to rethink rural vision
Report says it won’t govern without more countryside seats, as ex- MP offers hope
CONSERVATIVE POLICIES that put the traditional party of rural seats at odds with countryside communities could create opportunities for rivals, it has been suggested, as a new report exposes how Labour has “ignored” constituencies outside towns and cities.
A report from the Countryside Alliance, released exclusively today to The Yorkshire Post, warns how the Labour Party needs to fix its “rural problem” if it has any chance of forming a future government.
Baroness Mallalieu, the president of the Countryside Alliance and a Labour peer, stressed it was vital that the party shaped a longterm vision of how it can widen its appeal.
She said: “Labour’s rejection by rural communities cannot continue to be the elephant in the countryside.”
Labour now holds just 17 of the 199 rural or semi- rural seats in the UK, whereas in 1997 and 2001 the number was more than 100.
Shadow Environment Secretary Luke Pollard said he was determined that Labour, under Sir Keir Starmer, would become the natural choice of voters in the countryside.
But George Eustice, Mr Pollard’s counterpart in government, said: “Nationally, the Conservative Party has always had a much stronger affinity and understanding with rural communities, whether that is agricultural communities, but many others besides who have been farmers themselves and so understand that particular area.”
The Countryside Alliance found that, despite repeated warnings from a left- leaning think- tank the Fabian Society, as well as an internal report from MP Maria Eagle, Labour is still viewed as a party representing metropolitan areas, and this was reflected in their vote share in last December’s General Election.
The group said that by focusing on the urban voters, Labour continually neglected the countryside and while continuing to do so will not reach anywhere near the number of MPs needed to topple Boris Johnson in 2024 or 2029.
The report said: “The inability, or perhaps even unwillingness, to resolve those issues has meant that Labour has consistently failed to engage with the rural electorate.”
And Baroness Mallalieu added: “I’m afraid that message was not learnt in the last election. Labour has to stop thinking about the countryside as a place of recreation for urban dwellers.”
But she revealed that she was more positive about the future, as she said Sir Keir had at least replied to the Countryside Alliance’s invitation to meet.
“There has been a very marked silence from a string of Labour leaders, but Keir Starmer responded saying yes, he would like to meet.”
She called on Sir Keir to bring together Labour members of the Commons and the Lords with rural interests in one group to help develop policy going forwards.
The research director at the Fabian Society, Luke Raikes, said: “There are a lot of opportunities for Labour, but the difficulty is to not just criticise the Government’s actions but to present a positive alternative.”
Some of the policies recently introduced by the Tories could put Labour in a stronger position, the former MP for Keighley and Selby John Grogan suggested.
When he was the MP for Selby, Mr Grogan held the most rural Labour seat in the country.
He said: “You’ve got to be pretty ruthless in opposition in looking for government policies which are going to cause trouble in the countryside.
“The obvious one for me at the moment is the planning reforms, which would seem to have two possibilities for the party to get stuck in on.
“A lot of local politics in the countryside does involve local planning decisions, and that’s where people cut their teeth as local politicians, so that would seem to me to be a possibility.”