Robbie Moore, the Conservative MP for Keighley and Ilkley and the current Shadow Farming Minister (formerly Defra Minister) has spoken out about trying to find out why the Conservatives did not perform as well in rural constituencies as they might have expected.
The Tories have traditionally been known as the party of the countryside, but the most recent election saw Labour’s Keir Starmer trying to win over the rural vote, and a large number of people who might have been expected to vote for the Conservatives turned their back on the party.
Speaking at the Tory party conference in Birmingham to the Conservative Rural Forum fringe, Moore blamed “the chop and change at a ministerial level and secretary of state
level” for a “vision that is not consistent” within the Conservative Party. Interestingly, he also highlighted the fact that this left rural communities feeling abandoned by the party. “It also creates a lack of feeling of being loved by the rural community, whatever sector, whichever part of the rural community you work on.”
Moore also stated that “consistently for too long the focus has been, quite rightly, on the environment, but not enough focus on food security, food resilience or rural affairs”.
It’s interesting that this feeling of being ignored, and of the focus being on conservation rather than rural people and rural knowledge, was almost exactly the response that emerged from the recently published ‘People’s Plan for the Uplands’, which was compiled by the Regional Moorland Groups. As we reported last week, the survey revealed that 97% of those surveyed answered ‘no’ to the question, ‘Do politicians do enough to look after rural communities?’.
Another issue that emerged was that people in upland communities feel that politicians are “in hock to a conservation industry that doesn’t care how its work affects local communities”.
As an MP in one of the areas which the Regional Moorland Groups represent and which the ‘People’s Plan for the Uplands’ reflects, it is interesting to see the similarities between Moore’s views and that of the report. It might be tempting to think this is ‘too little, too late’ but, equally, it is refreshing to see an MP – even one in opposition – understand how rural communities are feeling abandoned and left behind by Westminster politicians, and the frustration with decisions being made from behind desks, which are then imposed on rural workers.
We understand from the Regional Moorland Groups that Moore has always been sympathetic of their concerns; let's hope that this is just the beginning of a step-change in the Conservative Party's thinking.
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