Lib Dem leader backs Rural Powerhouse policies at CLA annual conference

Addressing the CLA’s annual Rural Business Conference in London, Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey backed a key policy of the CLA’s Rural Powerhouse campaign to create a senior cross departmental Minister for Rural Communities.

At the conference attended by DEFRA Secretary Dr Thérèse Coffey and over 400 CLA members, Sir Ed said:

“We need to start with a change to the way the Government thinks about rural communities.

“Siloing off ‘rural affairs’ in DEFRA plainly isn’t working. It leads to the neglect we are now witnessing of rural communities across government.

“Why aren’t rural businesses a priority for the Department for Business? Why isn’t rural transport a priority for the Department for Transport? Why aren’t rural health services a priority for the Department for Health? Why aren’t rural schools and colleges a priority for the Department for Education? Why isn’t rural connectivity a priority for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport?

“In part at least, it’s because they all think ‘That’s DEFRA’s problem’.

“Meanwhile, within DEFRA, ‘rural affairs’ is relegated to being just one of nine responsibilities of a single Minister in the House of Lords. That’s not good enough.

“So today, I’m calling on the Prime Minister to appoint a cross-departmental Minister for Rural Communities, to make sure that rural voices are heard across Whitehall when decisions are made. So that rural communities aren’t forgotten or ignored by any part of government ever again.”

The call follows the publication earlier this year of a major report by the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Rural Powerhouse, which called for structural change in how Government approaches the rural economy.

The CLA is working closely with opposition parties in the run up to the next General Election, as all parties begin to build their policy programme for a future government.