Well, it finally happened!
The thing for which I and a large number of rural based Labour candidates and activists have been campaigning for for the best part of over two years – the rural manifesto – was released on Tuesday and is already being met with sighs of relief and cheers of joy from members in the provinces.
The rural manifesto is not some half-hearted nod to the hinterland, more afterthought than anything meaningful; nor is it something hastily and shoddily patched together to satisfy a small number of noisy Labour members who happen to find themselves in a non-urban area.
It represents something more: the acknowledgement of a new movement within the Labour party, that since the débâcle of 2010 has slowly discovered a new voice and confidence – and it is a confidence that can only come from a distinct and growing sense of identity.
Writing for Labour: Coast & Country in July last year, Alex Mayer, the excellent and tireless national policy forum rep for the East of England noted:‘at events like the national policy forum, when there is a leader’s question and answer session, questions normally follow a pattern – ‘I am a Coop delegate – what is your view on Cooperative solutions’ ‘I am a young person – how will you ensure youth services…?’ ‘I am from LGBT Labour… what is your view on equality…? However it is quite a recent phenomenon for the ‘I am from a rural part of the country…’ question to come up…’
Now, Labour in rural areas are fighting and campaigning with a self-assurance and a spring in their step. Some are even officially standing as ‘Rural Labour’ candidates. While there is much work left to do and this rural energy is far from universal, I am proud to have witnessed this development over the last few years. I only hope that this is allowed to continue after the election and that ‘Rural Labour’ is given greater representation within the party and in government.
But I digress.
When I wrote and started to campaign with the ‘Proposal for a Rural Manifesto’ over two years ago, I had a certain idea in my head of how a completed rural manifesto would look. I also had a distinct idea of what to avoid – the eagerly forgotten rural manifesto of 2010 being the blueprint for my idea of ‘what not to do’. I am delighted to say that Labour’s 2015 rural manifesto meets these expectations!
It is a comprehensive document that sets out interesting, important and occasionally innovative policies and ideas to tackle rural issues. And I am pleased to say that the issues covered are broad.
There is a strong focus on the rural economy. The loss of the AWB has been sorely felt among agricultural workers and Labour’s pledge to replace it with a new industry-led taskforce to tackle low wages and to boost skills in agriculture, as well as the re-introduction ‘Food 2030’ to encourage long-term planning in the farming industry, are very important policies. Given that two-thirds of rural residents either work for or run small businesses, including the self-employed, and given that around a third of people who live in the smallest villages work from home, the introduction of a regional British investment bank, a cut in small business rates and the pledge to roll out universal superfast broadband by 2020 are a Godsend for a lot of people … myself included.
The cost of living is, of course, well covered. Besides encouraging the rural economy, boosting wages and banning zero hours contracts, off-grid energy suppliers will be brought under the remit of a regulator for the first time – thus correcting the big mistake of the ‘Freeze the Bill’ campaign, which did not cover the off-grid suppliers that up to half of rural residents use, although this varies from place to place.
Naturally, there is a repeat of Labour’s pledge to build more affordable homes, but tailored for rural areas – focusing on localised decision-making to ensure the correct kind of accommodation is built in the right places. In addition, there is a commitment to protect the environment by developing a 25 year plan for the recovery of nature – which, to my mind, must involve the housebuilding process, to ensure that the new builds do not damage the greenbelt and avoid disturbing wildlife – as well as by planting new woodland closer to places of habitation. The welfare of animals is also covered, be it through the pledge to ban animals in circuses, or with a pledge to tackle wildlife crime and reduce animal cruelty on shooting estates – improving the protection of cats and dogs is covered too!
Social services are not forgotten either: Labour lives up to its all-important role as champion of the National Health Service with a promise to join up services from home to hospital, which is vital if the nearest hospital is over 25 miles away! There will be more local say and control of public transport, which remains the lifeblood of any village for a lot of rural people. Interestingly, rural crime is not forgotten either, and Labour’s pledge to protect neighbourhood policing, which has been stretched to breaking point in rural areas, will help to reduce a rural crime rate that has been on the rise since 2010.
Suffice it to say, there is a lot of detail in the rural manifesto but it is not perfect. There are problems, such as focusing on the badger cull as an environmental issue, rather than as a farming issue – as the aim should be eliminating bovine TB, which the badger cull has been shown to have had no effect on limiting, thus proving that it is as cruel as it is unnecessary; I would also have liked to have seen something more specific on mental health services, which are practically non-existent in a lot of non-urban areas; and the absence of anything to do with mobile phone coverage is a big miss, especially if we aim to improve businesses and help the young.
However, what is most important is the rural manifesto does not talk down to rural voters.
Possibly for the first time in a generation, the Labour party can be shown to take rural problems and rural voters seriously and have a thought-out vision for a progressive rural Britain.
For me, and for scores of rural Labour activists, that is something that has been worth waiting for.
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Jack Eddy is national coordinator for Labour: Coast & Country. He tweets @NorfolkJackEddy
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