Rural communities

Motion Text

That this House recognises that one in five people in the UK live in a rural community; acknowledges the significant impact of the cost of living crisis on rural areas; notes with concern the ongoing ambulance crisis in rural and coastal communities; further notes that farmers in rural communities are struggling with increasing running costs, unfair trade deals and a botched rollout of the ELMS scheme; notes that councils in rural communities are struggling to deal with an increasingly strained budget and are often required to spend a greater proportion of their budget than their urban counterparts on social care; and calls on the Government to create a cross-departmental Minister for Rural Communities to lead the way in addressing these issues and ensuring rural communities are fully considered in decision making.