Labour has resonated with rural voters before. We need to win their trust again

The Conservatives have weakened the foundations of rural communities over the last decade. There is a lack of affordable housing, real challenges accessing public transport and a lack of reliable broadband for children homeschooling. The Tories have taken these communities for granted for too long.

In 1997, Labour won over 170 seats in rural areas; at the 2019 general election, we won just 17. It’s clear that Labour’s message has resonated with rural voters before, and we need to win their trust again.

This week, Keir Starmer was the first Labour leader for 13 years to address the annual conference of the National Famers’ Union. He set out how Labour’s next manifesto would offer hope and optimism to our countryside.

That starts with our farmers. Labour has already been pushing hard to put our food and animal welfare standards into law, and we’ve already strengthened the new trade and agriculture commission to ensure more scrutiny of these trade deals.

Now we want to go further: by reviewing the £2.4bn worth of public sector catering contracts to see whether they can go to British farmers and producers, by reforming the farm payments system, and by investing in skills, allowing our young people to have a bright future in farming.

But the countryside isn’t just about farming. We need to look at all aspects of rural life, listen to rural communities, and act. That’s why I’m so glad Keir Starmer has asked me to lead a review into Labour’s rural policy.

I look forward to working with my shadow cabinet colleagues Thangam Debbonaire on rural housing, Kate Green on rural education, Jim McMahon on rural transport, and Jon Ashworth and Rosena Allin-Khan on rural health, to make sure our review covers all aspects of rural life.

Maria Eagle’s 2015 report, Labour’s Rural Problem, noted that all too often rural communities had been an “afterthought” for the Labour Party. Her recommendations and those of the reports by the Fabian Society and the Countryside Alliance since have not made for easy reading either, but they tell an honest story about how Labour retreated from rural communities.

The marginal seats that we often talk about, like Camborne and Redruth, Delyn, and North West Durham, and even seats in the so-called ‘Red Wall’ like High Peak and Bolsover, are in fact rural seats. We need to make sure that we’re listening to these communities. No party can claim to represent the country without representing the countryside.

Keir’s speech to our nation’s farmers thanked them for their work during the pandemic but also made a pledge: the next Labour manifesto should give as much hope and opportunity to rural communities as urban communities.