The Yorkshire Post reports that the new Prime Minister has set economic growth at the forefront of her new administration’s policy-making, aimed at ambitiously rebuilding the economy through tax cuts and reform

However concerns have been raised that a flagship policy of levelling up, set out by Liz Truss’ predecessor Boris Johnson, may no longer centre in ideologies.

Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire Council Council (NYCC), argues that rural economies are as important to the nation as the economic output from large metropolitan areas – and must be taken as seriously.

He said: “The levelling up agenda is aimed at tackling regional inequalities, but this is not simply about a North-South divide.

There needs to be a concerted effort to ensure that there is parity and equality between urban and rural areas as well."

Research published earlier this year suggested that the countryside economy is lagging behind the national average by nearly a fifth.

Were this gap closed, an All Party Parliamentary Group for Rural Business and the Rural Powerhouse (APPG) found it would bring a £43bn boost to the economy.

The APPG study found a succession of issues were holding back the countryside's economic potential, from a fractured planning system to a "brain drain" of talented workers.

Full article:

The Yorkshire Post - Call for Prime Minister Liz Truss to put rural communities at heart of Government policies