Rural reality

But it would be hard to blame those living in rural areas if they choose to meet her words with little more than weary cynicism.

For decades now it has been clear that successive Governments – none more so than the last – have failed to appreciate the enormous value that rural life brings to this country.

The systematic stripping-back of rural infrastructure which began with local railway lines in the 1950s and has continued right through to post offices and village pubs today must be reversed if the countryside is to overcome the issues which are causing mass migration toward cities by the new rural generation.

The Government’s investment in rural broadband is a welcome start – though its target of just 90 per cent coverage will reek of a lack of ambition to those living in areas deemed too expensive to support.

Other proposals are more questionable. Certainly, the Minister’s suggestion that a relaxation of planning laws will improve life in the countryside has been rejected by the National Trust, among others, who fear irreparable damage is about to be done to out most treasured landscapes.

For her part, Mrs Spelman now has a lot to prove. Perhaps cowed by her dismal policy failure over the aborted forestry sell-off, she has skulked in the background for much of her tenure thus far – and continues to preside over a dysfunctional department, which has long been the cause of consternation amongst farmers and others in the countryside.

What is clear is Britain’s rural areas now need real support and real investment from its politicians – and not the lip-service that they have received for so long.