The National Rural Conference 2025

Bookings are now officially open for the National Rural Conference 2025, which will take place online from Monday 15 to Thursday 18 September.
This is the Rural Services Network’s flagship event of the year, bringing together rural decision-makers, practitioners, and advocates for four days of live, interactive sessions focused on the future of rural communities.
Click here to book!

Rural communities are suffering austerity

Speaking at a Labour fringe event at conference last week, Plymouth MP and Shadow Minister for Flooding and Coastal Communities Luke Pollard warned about the danger of assuming that urban areas are worst hit by austerity and believing that Conservatives represent rural voters while Labour represents those in urban areas.

‘It’s tempting to think of built up urban areas when we think about areas worst hit by austerity, but rural communities have been hit just as hard – they’ve lost their pubs, their GP surgeries, their post office and councils can’t afford basic services,’ he said. ‘People in rural communities need their public services protected just as much, if not more so, than those in big cities.’

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→ PlymouthLive - Plymouth MP makes comments about 'rural austerity' at Countryside Alliance event