Rural voters are trusting Labour again – we must not let them down
British farmers stage a protest in Westminster, calling on the government to support British farming – London, UK, March 2024 (Credit: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire)
3 min read
It’s no secret that, over the last decade and a half, the Labour Party has struggled to connect with rural communities. Labour went from 170 rural seats in 1997 to just two in 2019 – a 90 per cent loss in a single generation.
But we are beginning to turn a corner. Recent by-election results in my constituency of Selby and Ainsty, and for my colleague Alistair Strathern in Mid Bedfordshire, show that Labour is once again being trusted to advocate for rural communities. Recent polling from the Country Land and Business Association shows Labour’s share of the vote in England’s most rural constituencies up 17 points from 2019.
Regardless of who wins power at the polls later this year, rural communities need urgent support from their political representatives. Since 2017, more than 6,000 agricultural firms have been forced to close their doors, and botched trade deals, labour supply challenges, and uncompetitive prices continue to plague farmers and the rural economies they serve.
The Labour Party has begun the hard work to earn the right to be heard by rural communities
These challenges are not reserved for rural communities alone. The produce grown by a farmer in my constituency ends up on the plates of residents in London, Manchester and Leeds. The work of our farmers is crucial both to our food resilience and, in an increasingly destabilised world, our national security.
To this end, Labour’s New Deal for Farmers acknowledges the interconnectedness of our rural community to our national life, and puts farmers and their expertise at the heart of government decision-making.
If Labour is privileged enough to form the next government, we would pursue a new veterinary agreement with the European Union; back the National Farmers’ Union’s Buy British campaign to source 50 per cent of food in the public sector from British farmers; simplify environmental land management schemes so that more farmers can enjoy the economic and environmental benefits; and encourage the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to meet its own departmental spending ambitions. Labour will also deliver a new publicly owned energy company that will harness clean, home-grown British power to deliver cheaper bills for farmers.
Most importantly for my local area, Labour is committed to creating a flood resilience taskforce, which would stop the buck passing between the government, the Environment Agency, the internal drainage boards and the water companies. Rural communities will have the security of knowing when the bad weather strikes, a Labour government will stand four-square behind them with a joined-up plan to have their backs.
But as well as ambition for the future, there are practical measures the government could pursue today to give farmers the support they need. At a recent National Farmers’ Union conference, the Prime Minister said he would implement the annual statutory food index when time allowed. As this Parliament is not presiding over an era of unflagging legislative vigour, this is something the government could get on with now if it wishes to get real about the nation’s food security.
Locally, I will keep working in Selby and Ainsty to give local farmers the support they need. We need to turn the page and provide a real offer to rural communities. The Labour Party has begun the hard work to earn the right to be heard by rural communities, and if we are privileged enough to be given the chance at the next general election, we will not let them down.
Keir Mather is the Labour MP for Selby and Ainsty
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