Time for fair rural funding as farmers threatened by Spending Review cuts

MP Helen Morgan has urged the Government to provide fair funding for rural councils and act to support British farmers as further cuts are threatened at the Spending Review.

The North Shropshire MP stood in the House of Commons to warn that Shropshire Council’s finances “have been left on the brink by 16 years of Conservative administration” and are under threat from the huge costs of services like social care.

Helen, a former parish councillor, said the Labour government needed to account for the “difficulty and costliness of delivering services over such a wide rural area”.

It comes after swathes of cuts in Shropshire - during the reign of the Conservatives both locally and nationally - were followed by the Labour government’s decision last year to axe the Rural Services Delivery Grant which had helped top up the finances of struggling authorities like Shropshire.

Helen is concerned that while the Conservative government took rural areas for granted, the Labour government does not understand the needs of rural areas as it is too focused on urban locations.

In a further blow to rural areas, the Government is rumoured to be planning to slash the nature-friendly farming budget as part of the upcoming Spending Review.

Helen and her Liberal Democrat colleagues are urging ministers to protect rural communities by fairly funding rural councils and ruling out cuts to the farming budget.

Helen Morgan, Liberal Democrat MP for North Shropshire, said, “Rural areas like Shropshire have been taken for granted by the Conservatives and are now being neglected by Labour.

“Budgets for councils like Shropshire are much tighter due to the crippling cost of social care and other statutory services.

“It’s time for the Government to fairly fund rural councils and act to support hardworking British farmers who are so important for feeding our nation.