Defra’s view of Yorkshire’s rural heartlands and national parks must extend beyond Brexit – The Yorkshire Post says

The problem is that these ‘appearances’ have been motivated entirely by Brexit – Mr Johnson has staked his entire premiership on the UK leaving the European Union by October 31 – and have had little, if anything, to do with the wider rural economy.

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And the need for the Government to try, wherever possible, to broaden its horizons is given added credence after the country’s national park leaders, meeting in the Yorkshire Dales, expressed misgivings about the growing infrastructure gap between rural and urban areas.

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Coming on the day MPs warned that Mr Johnson’s pledge to speed up the roll-out of faster broadband coverage will disadvantage countryside communities it is even more perplexing that Theresa Villiers has failed to make any impact since succeeding Mr Gove at the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

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Yet, while the Environment Secretary, like so many, is preoccupied by Brexit, she is ultimately responsible for her department’s ethos and the Defra website appears to be focusing on the ‘environmental’ and ‘food’ elements of the brief while excluding ‘rural’ matters.

This is regrettable. What chance is there of attracting new businesses and investment to the countryside, and helping to sustain rural schools by enticing young families to live in areas like the Dales, if the supporting infrastructure – like broadband – is not fit for purpose?

As such, this is an early reminder that Ministers like Ms Villiers that there is more to the countryside than Brexit – if they’re ever in a position to see the bigger picture.