Labour's Better Plan for Rural Britain

Today Maria Eagle, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, launched LABOUR'S BETTER PLAN FOR RURAL BRITAIN - a plan to build a rural economy that works for working people and supports rural families and communities.

"Rural Britain has been left behind under five years of the Tories and Lib Dems. A cost-of-living crisis, a low-pay, low-skill economy and a lack of power to make decisions about their future is holding back too many rural communities." 

Here are just five of the things Labour will do to stand up for rural communities:

1. We'll put right the damage done by the Tories’ decision to abolish the Agricultural Wages Board, replacing it with a new taskforce to tackle low pay and protect conditions for agricultural workers.
2. We will build more affordable rural homes by strengthening requirements on developers to build affordable housing in new developments.
3. We'll back small businesses that form the bedrock of the rural economy by cutting and then freezing business rates for smaller businesses which employ over two thirds of the rural workforce.
4. We will end the unfairness that many rural families face in an unregulated off-grid energy market.  We'll extend the remit of the new energy watchdog to off-grid households, protecting millions of rural families.
5. We will devolve new powers to our county regions, making sure our recovery extends beyond the City of London.

Download a full copy of LABOUR'S RURAL MANIFESTO by clicking here.

Question Time

Questions from East Midlands businesses for Stella Creasy MP (Walthamstow), Toby Perkins MP (Chesterfield) and ... hang about ... isn't that...?