YP Comment: Don't ignore the countryside

RURAL residents and businesses in North Yorkshire, and other countryside communities for that matter, have good reason to feel slighted by their political leaders.

Locally, Yorkshire’s tortuous devolution debate has focused on the needs of the city-regions and paid ‘lip service’ at best to the strategic economic importance of this county’s coastal resorts and three iconic national parks.

Nationally, Theresa May and Philip Hammond’s ‘One Nation’ agenda has barely made reference to the rural economy while Andrea Leadsom, the Brexit-supporting Environment Secretary, commands even less attention than her predecessor Liz Truss whose complacent response to the winter floods of 2015-16 has still not been forgiven, or forgotten, in these parts.

Yet, as the Prime Minister prepares to invoke Article 50 in a week’s time, today’s report by the think-tank Localis is a timely reminder that the Government’s remit extends far beyond politically favoured urban constituencies.

Yes, this requires dynamic local leadership, but such individuals are only likely to serve their market town, or wider area, if the industrial strategy being formulated by Ministers actually acknowledges the existence of rural Britain. It would be a small start.