Why Labour in Ryedale?

Labour is the party of rural communities. We are delivering better public services and an economy that works in the interests of all rural communities. We are addressing the many and diverse challenges facing rural communities. We have already made significant progress in tackling rural unemployment, reversing the cuts in essential public services that took place under the Conservative Government and putting in place policies that are helping to create genuinely sustainable communities.

Under the Tories, village schools, rural buses, post offices, affordable housing and rural policing all suffered from cuts.

• Labour is delivering for rural Britain through a strong economy and record investment in our essential public services.
• Rural unemployment is low, and self-employment and business creation rates are high.
• Labour is targeting rural support to areas of highest need: protecting vulnerable shops and post offices; increasing bus services; investing in market town regeneration; and keeping village schools open.
• Labour is supporting the farming and fishing industries through our programme of investment and reform.

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What Labour has done

• More people are in work: unemployment has fallen by 26 per cent in rural areas since 1997.
• We have exceeded our target for the creation of more affordable homes in rural communities.
• Provided £150 million a year to stop avoidable rural post office closures.
• We established 50 per cent rate relief for the last remaining village shop or post office.
• We are keeping village schools open, stemming the tide of closures that averaged 30 each year under the Tories.
• Nearly 50 per cent of rural households now live within a ten-minute walk to an hourly or better bus service, compared with 37 per cent in 2000.
• Labour is spending £30 million a year on supporting policing in rural areas.
• Funded 109 one-stop Primary Care Centres to serve rural communities.
• Radical reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), helping the farming industry.
• Reformed the Common Fisheries Policy to give a greater regional voice and increased funding for the fishing industry.

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What Labour will do

• By 2008, Labour will have more than doubled spending on new affordable housing in England since 1997, reaching £2 billion a year by 2007-08.
• We will raise investment in local schools to improve standards.
• Labour will support rural development by focusing regeneration resources on areas of high deprivation.
• Labour will invest £240 million from 2003-04 on rural bus services.
• We will achieve fair access to public services through increased funding and more emphasis on policy-making at a local level.
• We are increasing investment in market town regeneration aimed at creating new job opportunities and restoring high streets.
• We are spending £6.5 million on advice for rural businesses, including £4.5 million for the Farm Business Advice Service.
• Reward farmers for looking after the land, not simply for producing.
• Introduce a new streamlined approach to make the business of farming simpler for farmers, with ‘one form, one date and one payment’.
• We will improve protection and management of the marine environment by introducing a Marine Bill.

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Our policy

We are building strong rural communities by tackling unemployment, expanding economic opportunities and safeguarding essential public services. No matter how our opponents may try to drive a wedge between town and country, people’s priorities are the same wherever they live. They want a decent job, low mortgages, to be able to pay the bills and an economy that is stable. They want good schools for their children, good-quality accessible healthcare, security and dignity in retirement, and to feel safe in their homes and on the streets. However, we recognise that people living in rural areas face important differences such as access to services.

We will continue to ensure that people living in rural communities get access to high-quality public services and that they benefit from the improvements that we have set out in our agenda for a third-term Labour Government.

Economic success

Labour is ensuring that our rural policy leads to genuine sustainable development. Only Labour is committed to tackling injustice in every community. Thanks to our policies, rural unemployment is low, and self-employment and business creation rates are high. With Labour, more people are in work: unemployment has fallen by 26 per cent in rural areas since 1997. The unemployment rate in rural areas is now down to 3.5 per cent.

The majority of rural areas have strong economic performance. There are, however, some economic weaknesses and associated poor social conditions in a minority of rural areas. To counter this we are using more targeted area-based policies that maximise the benefits of mainstream public funding to attract and foster business development, to improve skills and to build local institutional and community capacity.

In 2004, Labour provided £2 million for Business Link support for rural areas that need more jobs and economic activity. We are also committed to supporting the work of the Regional Development Agencies in helping regenerate the economic prospects of rural areas.

We are regenerating our market towns. Labour is providing £37 million over three years within the Regional Development Agencies rural programme to fund regeneration for market towns. With other funds this will amount to a£100 million programme to create new job opportunities, new workspace, restored high streets, improved amenities and transport facilities, and help with community needs.

More affordable housing

Labour understands that rural residents want their children to be able to afford to live in the towns and villages where they were brought up, and rural businesses and public services cannot operate without housing for their employees. We have exceeded our targets for affordable homes in small rural settlements in each of the three years to 2003-04.

We have given local authorities new powers to protect our precious rural housing stock. We have made it easier to limit the resale of former social housing in rural areas, so that it is reserved for local people. We have also given local authorities new powers over council tax discounts, allowing them to reduce the discount on second homes from 50 per cent to 10 per cent.

Better public services

In 1997, Labour inherited a neglected and underfunded NHS with thousands of people waiting more than 18 months for their operations. Labour’s investment decisions have put the NHS on a sound footing. Spending has doubled since 1997. This investment has meant that waiting times are down and that we have more nurses and doctors.

The health service in rural areas is improving with Labour. The development of NHS Direct has meant that people have access to health advice over the phone and internet. We have also improved GP services through mobile service delivery units.

Labour has put massive investment into our education system. Today, there are more teachers, improved school buildings and results are up across the board. On top of our investment, we are providing specific help for village schools. In 2001 we introduced the Small Schools Fund, worth a total of £80 million. For 2004-05, £279 million for support staff salaries and small schools has been included in a new single Standards Fund grant for schools. Standards in our schools are up across the board.

We have invested to improve facilities in rural schools such as working to eradicate outside toilets in village schools. Labour has a presumption against the closure of rural schools and where there were an average 30 village schools closed each year under the Tories, today the figure is just five. These closures only occur with local consultation and as a last resort.

We have established rural and mini local Sure Start programmes to help give the best start to children and to support parents. There are now 45 smaller Sure Start programmes in rural areas and pockets of deprivation.

Our mini Sure Start programmes are linked to Neighbourhood Nurseries, Early Excellence Centres or other provision to deliver some Sure Start-type services to around 150 to 170 children under four in each area. We are delivering the best start for every child in rural areas. We have pledged to go further and create 3,500 Children’s Centres throughout the country by 2010.

Public transport

We have improved public transport in rural communities. Our Rural Bus Subsidy Grant which is worth £51 million for 2004-05 provides over 2,200 bus services and supports over 29 million passenger journeys a year. Today, more people live within a short walk of a regular bus service. We are also making transport fairer for those who need it most – we’ve guaranteed free fares on local buses for people over 60 and disabled people, benefiting around around 11 million pensioners and two million disabled people.

Nearly 50 per cent of rural households now live within a ten-minute walk to an hourly or better bus service, compared with 37 per cent in 2000.

Protecting rural services

We have protected important local services. We established 50 per cent mandatory rate relief to help village shops, pubs and garages that benefit the community to stay open.

Post offices play an important role in many rural communities. In recognition of this we have taken steps to maintain the rural network and to prevent avoidable closures. Since 2003 we have invested £150 million each year to support rural post offices and have announced this funding will continue until 2008. We are also supporting pilot initiatives by the Post Office to secure better access and use of post office services in rural communities. These pilots will look at ways of expanding the usage of rural post offices and improving access to the services in remote outlying communities.

This money is designed to help rural post offices through the changes in the network’s business and allow the rural network sufficient time to develop financially viable ways to deliver services in rural areas. The lessons we are learning in this period are crucial in informing longer-term decisions about the future shape of the rural post office network. In the future we need to ensure that access to post office services for those living in rural communities can be maintained on a more sustainable basis.

Safer communities

Labour is providing £30 million each year specifically for police authorities in rural areas to fight crime. We have developed several initiatives including dedicated parish special constables, mobile police stations and targeted rural patrols. There are now over 500 Farm Watch schemes.

We are addressing the misuse of drugs in rural communities by increasing funding for treatment and by ensuring that every major rural police station has a drugs worker to help to break the link between crime and drugs.

A sustainable future for farming

Labour is working to establish a sustainable future for Britain’s farming and food industries, as viable industries contributing to a better environment, and healthy and prosperous communities.

In 2002, Labour published its Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food, a comprehensive, long-term strategy for sustainable farming. It contained resources of £500 million to help farming and the rest of the food chain respond to the challenges of the future. Our new Environmental Stewardship scheme is also rewarding farmers for their contribution to the value of the countryside through responsible management of the landscape and natural resources.

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is an expensive scheme that costs the UK billions a year in terms of higher food prices, higher taxes and the resulting drain on economic productivity. Labour has achieved a radical reform of the CAP which eluded all previous governments. The reforms will open the way to a new future for farming – with farming more profitable and better connected to the market and with higher standards of environmental protection and care for animal welfare.

The CAP reforms secured by Labour in June 2003 have the scope to deliver significant economic benefits for the UK, estimated at between £400 million and £500 million a year at present exchange rates. Economists have estimated that on average farm incomes could rise by about £100 million relative to what would have happened in the absence of the Single Payment Scheme. The reforms will free our farmers from much of the bureaucracy and perverse incentives of the current CAP. The new decoupled Single Payment Scheme will mean farmers no longer produce for the subsidy but will produce what the market will reward while meeting basic environmental standards as a condition of payment. It also represents a radical simplification for farmers with separate regulations, payments, dates and form filling replaced by one form, one set of rules, one date and one payment.

We have supported the creation of new organisations such as English Food and Farming Partnerships to encourage farmer cooperation and strengthen the profitability, competitiveness and sustainability of England’s farming, food and related rural industries.

Labour has been a strong supporter of organic farming. Our Organic Action Plan contained a range of measures to support organic producers, including encouraging public bodies, schools and hospitals to purchase organic food. The proportion of UK organic sales grown in the UK is rising rapidly. It was 30 per cent when we published the plan in 2002, and we expect to reach our goal of 70 per cent by 2010.

We have a ‘safety first’ and precautionary policy on GM technology. We recognise public concern about genetically modified foods and their safety and environmental impact. We have already established one of the world’s most comprehensive scientific and robust frameworks for GM crops. We will continue to take a precautionary approach to GM foods and crops based on sound science, and ensuring consumer information and choice.

A sustainable future for fishing

Labour is delivering for our fishing communities. For the first time ever a government has mapped out a long-term future that is sustainable. The Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit report in 2004 set out how we will increase profitability in the industry while protecting the marine environment.

We will improve protection and management of the marine environment by introducing a Marine Bill to allow different uses of the seas – including fisheries and offshore wind – to develop harmoniously and sustainably.

Labour has worked to reform the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) to ensure rational and sustainable exploitation of fish stocks through conservation and management policies designed to protect resources and reflect the needs of the fishing industry, including achieving a more regional voice. We will continue to press for reform. The Tory alternative is to leave the Common Fisheries Policy unilaterally which is impossible without leaving the EU as a whole.

Following our 2001 manifesto commitment we invested over £60 million in structural funds over the next three years to help the fishing industry and this increased to £106 million, £67 million of which went to Scotland.

Labour secured a good deal for the fisheries industry at the European Union’s Fisheries Council in December 2004 by taking the tough decisions necessary to protect fishing stocks under threat while at the same time maximising opportunity for our fishing industry to catch stocks that are healthy.

Devolution statement

Rural affairs is largely a devolved matter in Scotland and Wales, with exemptions such as the Common Agricultural Policy and Common Fisheries Policy.

Supporting quotes

‘The Government’s recognition of the vital importance to us all of our diverse and wonderful landscapes and the benefit of tranquillity in the countryside is to be applauded. So too, is the need to address real rural disadvantage, including through the provision of genuinely and permanently affordable housing in a properly planned way.’
Tom Oliver, Head of Rural Policy, Campaign to Protect Rural England, 21 July 2004

‘This is an important step towards bringing more sustainable houses into the mainstream.’
Robert Shaw, Policy Officer, Town and Country Planning Association, 27 July 2004

‘The Campaign to Protect Rural England “applauded” the Government’s pledge “that rural areas would also benefit from the substantial increase in social housing expenditure”.’
Campaign to Protect Rural England, 13 July 2004

Farming and fishing

‘The last few years have seen the first really significant change in farm policy for over 50 years. The days of English taxpayers subsidising the destruction of wildlife and the countryside, and the over-production of unwanted food, are over. Instead we have seen the Government start the process of switching support to helping wildlife and restoring the countryside, increasing access for ordinary people, and encouraging animal welfare.’

‘The Government has shown real commitment to organic food – introducing the first regular payments in return for the environmental benefits organic farms deliver, promoting organic food in hospitals and schools, and challenging the supermarkets to stock more UK produce.’
Peter Melchett, Policy Director, The Soil Association, 22 February 2005

Hamish Morrison, Chief Executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation described the outcome of the most recent EU Fisheries Council as:‘remarkable and an important step in rebuilding the sector’.

Jim Portus, Chief Executive of the South West Fish Producers Organisation said that the result of the EU Fisheries Council was ‘brilliant news’. 23 December 2004

‘For 2005 at least the news is good, and Christmas has come early.’
Paul Trebilcock, Chief Executive, Cornish Fish Producers’ Organisation, reacting to the EU Fisheries Council, 23 December 2004

‘The new land management agency is good news. It offers the chance for a more coordinated approach to delivering land management policies…’
National Farmers’ Union, responding to the 2004 Rural Strategy, 21 July 2004

‘We welcome the commitment to produce a strategy for organic farming.’
Patrick Holden, Director, The Soil Association, 25 October 2001 Back to top

Further information

Local statistics and tools

• Where can I get detailed statistics on the environment, food and rural affairs?
  There are a series of statistics covering environmental affairs, sustainable development, fishing and farming. To access useful statistics on rural affairs visit: http://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/temp_rural/stats

Key documents

• Five Year Strategy
  The Department for Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) published its five year plan in December 2004. The five year plan, Delivering the Essentials of Life, sets out in Labour’s future environmental priorities. It is available from the Defra website. To access Labour’s Five Year Strategy visit: www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/5year-strategy/index.htm

• The Rural Strategy 2004
  The Department for Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) published its rural strategy in 2004 which sets out how we can deliver sustainable development in rural England. To access Labour’s Rural Strategy visit: http://www.defra.gov.uk/rural/strategy/foreword.htm

• Information on rural affairs
  The Defra website lists all of our work on rural affairs including broadband connections and rural deliver. For a list of Labour’s work on rural affairs visit: http://www.defra.gov.uk/rural/default.htm

• The UK Fisheries Project
  The Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit report on the medium to long-term issues facing UK Fishing. For information on the Prime Minister’s fisheries report visit: www.number-10.gov.uk/su/fish/index

• Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food: Facing the Future
  In December 2002, Labour published its strategy for securing a sustainable future for our farming and food industries. For Labour’s strategy on sustainable farming and food visit: www.defra.gov.uk/farm/sustain/default

Key websites

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: www.defra.gov.uk

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Forward not back

The Tories’ record on supporting local communities is appalling. Under the Tories, rural essential public services such as public transport were run down, village schools and post offices were closed, and promises on police numbers were broken. The Tories’ cuts of £35 billion from public spending would mean cuts in the public services provided to urban and rural communities.

Key message

• The Tories’ commitment to cut £35 billion from public spending would mean devastating cuts to rural communities.

Failed Tory past

When Labour came to office, our rural communities had suffered from years of Conservative underfunding. The Tories have learnt nothing from the mistakes they made in the past. They would cut public spending by £35 billion, taking rural communities back to a time of school closures and cuts in public services. During their time in office, the Tories:

• caused a decline in the number of affordable rural homes for local people
• devastated rural bus services, leaving only one in four parishes with a daily bus service by 1997
• closed 30 village schools a year between 1983 and 1997
• closed over 3,000 post offices and made plans to privatise the rest.

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The Tory threat

In addition to their plans to cut public spending by £35 billion, the Tories have committed to deep cuts to state school and local hospitals to subsidise private education and healthcare. Their policies would see cuts in the number of affordable homes, cuts to local schools, cuts to local health services, cuts in the provision of childcare, and cuts to the services that people in rural communities rely on.

Cuts to schools and hospitals

The Tories would cut £1 billion from state schools to subsidise private education. This cut would result in less teachers, bigger class sizes and lower standards in our schools. The Tories have also proposed to cut over £1 billion from Local Education Authorities. This cut would hit people in rural communities who rely on local authorities to provide school transport and services for pupils with special educational needs.

The Conservatives have a manifesto commitment to introduce charges for patients to have basic operations performed more quickly. The effect of this voucher would be to divert public money from the NHS to subsidise queue-jumping for those who can afford to pay privately.

Tory opportunism on farming

They have criticised our failure to reduce overall spending on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). But CAP spending has now been capped, and we have secured an historic reform of the CAP so it will bring widespread public benefits.

Tory opportunism on fisheries

The Tories’ only policy on protection of marine resources is to withdraw from the Common Fisheries Policy – Michael Howard has restated this commitment since he became Leader of the Tory Party. Without unanimous support from the other EU nations (the Tories have so far failed to identify a single one), this would be impossible without withdrawing from the EU entirely. As former Tory chairman Chris Patten, said in October: ‘If you decide to repatriate fish policy, are you going to depend on our fish being taught to swim only in our territorial waters? Is this the real world?’ (epolitix.com, 11 October 2004). David Curry MP, former Tory Fisheries Minister, has said his own party’s policy is ‘unwise and undeliverable’.

The Tories take rural Britain for Granted

The Tories claim to be the only party that really understands rural areas. But they can’t be that popular – Labour has 180 rural and semi-rural Labour MPs. Their record shows that the Tories took rural areas for granted. Prosperity is higher in rural areas than elsewhere, and Labour has provided a focus for rural issues throughout government. This has resulted in improvements to services. We are the first party to establish a proper evidence base on rural policy to target our effort: our rural strategy is focused on the issues and areas that really matter.

Rural post offices abandoned

When Labour announced support for the rural post office network the Tories claimed they would not ‘subsidise loss-making post offices’ and would instead invest taxpayers’ money in ‘restructuring’. Throughout their time in office the Tories ran down the Post Office. Clearly the Tories don’t understand what Labour is doing to help ensure the network remains viable and would abandon rural post offices, denying them the support they need in this period of change.

Cuts to public transport

The Conservative Government over 18 years failed to invest in public transport in rural areas. Their cut of £35 billion from public-service spending would threaten bus services in rural areas. Bernard Jenkin MP, now Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for the Regions said: ‘Throwing money at the problem may produce visible effects but the rural bus partnership is an expensive policy.’ (Hansard, 20 January 2000).

Cuts in affordable housing

The Conservative Party took no interest in ensuring a good supply of affordable homes in rural communities. Today, the Tories would cut £1 billion from the housing budget, which would mean cuts in the number of affordable homes in rural communities.

Less support for rural businesses

More than 200,000 businesses went bust between 1992 and 1997, with many of these in rural communities. The Tories left rural communities with high levels of unemployment and little support for people wanting to start businesses. Labour has made it easier than ever before for people to start their own business.

The Tories’ cuts would take Britain back to a time of boom and bust. Their commitment to slash business support programmes would hit businesses hard and take Britain back to a low-wage, low-skill economy. The Tory cuts would mean that seven of the nine DTI business support products would be closed, including schemes supporting business research and development, and innovation, and schemes providing access to finance for small businesses.

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Q&A

Has Labour pushed through a ban of hunting?

Labour has fulfilled its manifesto commitment to give Parliament the opportunity to have a free vote on the issue of hunting with dogs. The House of Commons has now reached a conclusion with MPs deciding to ban hunting by a large majority following a free vote. In reality – although this is an issue which arouses some passions – it is not central to the needs or concerns of rural communities. They – like everyone else – want good public services, safe and prosperous neighbourhoods and good jobs. That is what really matters and that is what this Labour Government is delivering.

Why was so much parliamentary time spent on hunting?

We delivered on our manifesto commitment to give Parliament time to properly reach a conclusion on hunting. We tried to find a less divisive conclusion but it was extremely difficult when there was no level of compromise. Some people even tried to stop the banning of hare coursing for which there is no justification. Despite claiming that the parliamentary time spent on hunting was a waste of time, the Conservative Party is actually committed to re-introducing a bill to allow hunting to take place. This would mean that even more time is spent debating hunting.

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Tory lies

The Tories say that Labour is an urban elite and doesn’t understand the countryside

This is nonsense. Labour has more MPs representing rural or semi-rural seats than the other parties combined. Our investment in public services is delivering real change for rural communities with better schools and hospitals, improved public transport and an economy that is delivering economic prosperity. The Conservatives talk about valuing the countryside but when they were in government they closed rural schools, cut public transport in rural communities, left rural areas with high levels of unemployment, and presided over and hopelessly mismanaged the BSE crisis.

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