Tories can't take rural voters for granted after painful local election results, warns Julian Sturdy

The York Outer MP told a ConservativeHome event that in North Yorkshire the Tories had “clung on with a tiny majority in what was traditionally seen as an impregnable stronghold” - with even worse results in places like Somerset, Monmouthshire and Cumberland.

“I think it shows we cannot take rural areas for granted,” he said.

Prior to the local elections, polling by Survation commissioned by the Country Land and Business Association in North Yorkshire and four other rural counties predicted a 7.5 per cent swing away from the Conservatives in the locations compared to the 2019 General Election.

The result in North Yorkshire saw the Tories win a narrow majority on the new unitary authority with 52 per cent of the seats - far down on the 76 per cent the party held on the county council which is being replaced.

Mr Sturdy, who is co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Rural Business and the Rural Powerhouse, said the national results in the local elections “seem to bear out CLA polling that Conservatives’ advantage with rural voters has actually declined”.

Before the election, a report by his APPG which was researched and funded by the CLA called on the Government to do more to level up countryside communities and said the rural economy is 18 per cent less productive than the national average. It said closing the gap could be worth £43bn to the English economy and highlighted existing problems like a lack of affordable housing, low pay and growing rural fuel poverty.

The APPG’s report was intended to offer an “economic blueprint” to solve some of the issues through measures such as planning law reforms, building more affordable housing and setting up a cross-departmental working group to focus on boosting rural productivity.

Mr Sturdy said: “Using methods recommended by the report can tackle cost of living issues by creating the wealth to increase wages.

“I think there is a lot of positivity within this report that we can really drill down on. There is the opportunity for Government to pursue a strong Conservative message.

“We know material improvement both for individuals and communities come through hard work and enterprise and Government needs to create that climate.”

Young people leaving villages behind

Rural areas are experiencing “an ongoing drift of younger, energetic, enterprising residents”, Julian Sturdy has warned.

“They are drifting away from those rural communities and towards urban areas as they correctly see at the moment fewer opportunities in the countryside,” he said.

“We’ve got to reverse that, we’ve got to provide those opportunities and that is what this report talks about.”

He said it would be possible to make “great strides” by ensuring Government does not treat rural Britain as being “a museum or there for a day trip”.