Rural policy is key to success

Tories need to rebuild trust

TODAY’S LOCAL council elections are set to be the most meaningful for quite some time.

Forecasts this week suggested the Conservatives could be set for their worst performance in the local elections since the 1990s.

The survey, conducted by Electoral Calculus with Find Out Now, suggested that Labour could be on course to gain more than 800 seats, while the Tories are likely to lose 548 seats on councils across the country.

Such a drubbing would be ill-timed for Prime Minister Boris Johnson who is already facing myriad problems with his own party over law breaking, the cost of living crisis and unparliamentary behaviour from some of its MPs.

Regardless of the results, the Conservatives need to focus on delivering on their promises made prior to their thumping 2019 general election victory.

One of the most important of these concerns is our rural communities. In an interview published in The Yorkshire Post today, Mr Johnson speaks with evident pride on his Government’s record on the countryside, citing measures on rural broadband, farming and transport.

Digital connectivity is as crucial utility as its older equivalencies of gas and water. Its lack of a foothold in rural areas where it is more costly to roll out has held the countryside back for years.

Such policies are welcome but there are other challenges faced by rural communities.

Matters such as affordable housing and sustainable farming, both environmentally and economically, are also required.

The former has left prospects for younger adults seeking to stay in the locale very bleak indeed.

If the Conservatives are able to tackle these then it can begin to rebuild the trust it has so dramatically lost in recent months and once again attract the level of support it enjoyed in the 2019 General Election.