We need growth. It’s the key part of the Government’s agenda and it’s a fact that our economy has to get going again. That’s why it was so important for me to lead the crucial debate on Government support for rural businesses. The rural economy is a sleeping giant waiting to be awoken, we just need the Government to grasp the reins and really tackle the challenges that we face. We already contribute hundreds of billions to the economy, but there are billions more just waiting to be unlocked, all over our country. By giving our rural economy the support it needs to thrive, the entire country will benefit.
The rural economy is still a powerhouse
“The rural economy is a sleeping giant waiting to be awoken, we just need the Government to grasp the reins and really tackle the challenges that we face.”
For hundreds of years, our country was driven primarily by the rural economy and it continues to play a major role. Around a quarter of businesses are based in rural areas and contribute a whopping £240 billion to the economy. However, we are acutely affected by the specific challenges that rural economies face.
When people in rural areas like North Norfolk think about economic success and growth, they don’t need to dive head-first into the spreadsheets of the Financial Times to decide on business confidence.
They simply take a look outside, in their communities, and see what is happening there. Their economic indicators aren’t looking at hedge fund billions, but looking out into the high street. They take things like the expansion of CoffeeSmiths in North Walsham as a sign that more people are visiting our rural market towns, but also see the closure of our local bank branches, and think about how small business and sole traders will struggle with their business banking.
Rural residents will see the Chancellor or the Business Secretary courting the banks and hedgefunds, or flying overseas to seek investment, and they know it’s important. But they’d like to see similar care and engagement for the businesses that matter to them.
The Chancellor is keen to get the ear of BlackRock’s Larry Fink, but what about the insights of Larry’s Pizzeria in Hoveton?
Attracting, training, and retaining our workforce.
Although we have – proudly – the oldest population in the country in North Norfolk, we are blessed with many eager and talented young people who are keen cut their teeth in a range of different sectors. But the sad reality is that currently they are missing out on opportunities and seeing their career paths limited by how hard it is to access much of this training, apprenticeship or early career employment in rural areas like mine that have significant public transport challenges.
Government must empower local leaders to take action
Rural economic development can be, and must be, more exciting, inventive and far reaching than just building and leasing business parks – local authorities and local leaders have to get to the root causes of rural economic struggles and support businesses to address them.
Local leaders need to break the mould and provide innovative, far-reaching support and strategy to supercharge their rural economies by supporting them with access to funding, investment and seed capital, including to meet the cost of decarbonisation.
Poor transport puts the brakes on a global centre of excellence
The unique character of our rural areas sets them up perfectly to benefit from some of the most exciting advances in science and research.
The Norwich Research Park is not far from my constituency. It has many of the countries world-leading research institutes in the field of agri-science, and they are making incredible scientific progress that could make our food and farming healthier, more efficient, and more sustainable.
Such research excellence almost on our doorstep is incredibly exciting, but it’s location – within touching distance of our many farming and agricultural businesses, gives them an easy rollout for this new generation of science.
Our farmers can benefit from world-leading research, and our researchers can benefit from, I would argue, our world-leading farmers too.
Additionally, researchers and scientists might choose to come and live in North Norfolk if we had the necessary public transport links to make us a commutable destination but Instead, they’re contributing to overheating of the housing market in London.
With the right public transport infrastructure, constituents of mine could commute to do the many thousands of jobs that are emerging in what’s fast becoming a global centre of excellence for agri-tech – and those bringing their expertise to Norfolk could more fully enjoy the environmental and lifestyle benefits our county and my constituency has to offer – whilst also bringing a whole new and expanding clientele for our local businesses.
With real support, vision and strategy, we can transform the rural economy into the powerhouse it has been before, and should be in the future.
