Rural areas face a ‘perfect storm’

RURAL ENGLAND faces a “perfect storm” that is threatening its success and prosperity following Brexit, a report has warned.

The interim report by the Post-Brexit England Commission found a “deepening divide” between rural and urban areas, with unaffordable homes, poor internet connectivity and skills gaps combining to push the countryside further behind.

It called for the Government to pass greater powers to tackle the problems down to local authorities, leaving Whitehall free to get on with delivering Brexit.

Recommendations included giving all councils the ability to borrow to build new affordable homes, devolving funding and control over skills and employment, handing councils legal powers to ensure all new-build homes are connected to digital infrastructure and plugging the social care funding gap, which will reach £3.5bn by 2025.

The commission was set up by the Local Government Association, which is holding its annual conference in Birmingham.

Meanwhile, an IPPR thinktank study warned people living outside London will be hardest hit by an increase in living costs caused by Brexit.

A “hard” Brexit – in which the UK leaves the single market and customs union – would push average household expenditure up by about 2.7 per cent in London and three to 3.2 per cent elsewhere. A “softer” Brexit with closer ties to the EU mean costs rising about 1.5 per cent in the capital and 1.7 per cent in the rest of the country, it said.