With the General Election campaign now in full swing, the Arsyllfa team have taken a look at the manifestos of the main parties in order to see what they have to say about the countryside and the rural economy. Over the next weeks we will be taking a look at what each of the parties who are standing candidates in Wales have to say and will be outlining their proposals for the countryside and agriculture, as well rural poverty, services and the rural economy.
Here we will take a quick glance at some of the main proposals of the Liberal Democrat’s manifesto. Included in their manifesto are the following policies:
- Draft a written UK constitution which will reorganise it under a ‘federal’ system.
- Give an extra £50m to agriculture in Wales.
- Produce £500m more capital funding in Wales to invest in building and infrastructure.
- Invest in insulating houses, offering free heat pumps and insulation for those on low incomes.
- Establish a Small Surgeries Fund to provide services in rural areas.
- Introduce a National Food Strategy to ensure food security, get to grips with increasing food costs, put an end to food poverty and improve people’s health.
- Give an additional £1 billion to new Land Management Schemes to support new ways of farming that are profitable, sustainable and help nature.
- Maintain high health, environmental and animal welfare standards when producing food. Ensure that this principle is protected in any future trade deals.
- Give British farmers the ability to trade more easily across Europe through plant and animal health agreements.
- Support farmers to restore woodlands, peatlands and waterways and to create natural ways of preventing floods.
- Invest in rural and coastal infrastructure including abattoirs so that communities can attract and retain workers, especially young people.
- Give more control to communities over how many second homes are in their area.
Clearly many of the above proposals are ones that belong to devolved areas and so are not necessarily directly relevant to Welsh voters. However, it will be interesting to see what the effect of any policies that the next UK Government in Westminster adopt on how the Welsh Government operates, and if any increase in funding in certain areas allow similar changes in Wales.
For more information regarding what exactly the Conservative manifesto offers, follow this link to read the document in its entirety.
