In a more equal and just society all of us would have equal access to public services. Since the inception of the Labour party this has been a key driving force. It is why people join the party and vote for it.
So, why is the party so unsuccessful in rural areas? Why does it command such small memberships and numbers of activists in these communities. It wasn’t always the case. The Labour movement sprung from rural mining communities fighting injustice, poor wages and appalling conditions of work.
Scottish Labour seems to have deserted its rural communities entirely. It now regards Rural Affairs as doing something supportive for those nice farmers, fishermen and foresters – the three Fs. Its rural policies can’t be bothered with the nasty tourism industry, despite the fact that it gives more rural employment and has more potential members than the 3 Fs added together. Nor does it appear to care about small business, rural infrastructure, diversifying the rural economy or the unique problems of delivering public services to our remote and rural areas.
Under Tony Blair/Donald Dewar, for a time, we did a lot of good for rural UK, particularly rural Scotland and came up with a number of progressive policies. The Land Reform Act, the Minimum Wage, much better access to public services, the Disability Discrimination Act and many other initiatives all had a very positive impact on rural life.
However, despite this, the Labour Party has increasingly been seen as an urban party. With the Tory brand becoming highly toxic since 1997 the main beneficiaries of Labour’s failure to identify with rural UK were the LibDems who increasingly took over the mantle of “rural party” from the Tories.
Here in Argyll and Bute Scottish Labour membership dropped to dangerously low levels in the latter years of the Blair/Brown era. Small it might have been, but in the 2010 general election the Argyll and Bute CLP managed to increase its vote in a very bad election for Labour. In the aftermath its membership increased by 20% and the number of activists by 50%. This new membership was made up of long term Labour supporters wanting to get more active and disillusioned rural Lib Dems who saw Scottish Labour as sharing their values . Many also saw the SNP as having similar values but were dubious about supporting a left of centre party whose driving forces were nationalism and the break up of the UK. They also saw the rise of the ultra nats on the internet and in other media as particularly threatening.
As a result Scottish Labour really should have had a clear run at the 2011 Scottish Elections. To us in Argyll and Bute it was obvious that if we were to increase our share of the vote then we would have to go all out for the disillusioned LibDem vote. Not so the Scottish Labour strategists who worked hard at urban issues (knife crime) and Nat bashing. We published a Rural Affairs manifesto which tried to sort out the problems of the 3Fs but said nothing about rural poverty, access to public services, tourism, rural small business, rural infrastructure, rural employment (outside the 3Fs) or anything else closely related to what real rural voters want. The only Scottish Labour policy which attracted positive comments here was the National Care Service. We were asked how this was going to be delivered to remote and rural parts but really had no answer that didn’t sound very costly.
In Argyll and Bute, on the doorsteps, the main issues were the forthcoming loss of access to public services (particularly rural school closures), jobs, carers rights, small business support, and slashing of almost every form of service or benefit to vulnerable adults. Not a single soul asked us about farm subsidies, forestry investment or fishing quotas. The only 3Fs issue which came up was a hotelier asking why we couldn’t have more local abbatoirs so that he and the farmers could have an arrangement which would allow him to add locally raised meat to his menus.
If Labour is to win in rural constituencies it needs to address the problems of working voters in these areas. It needs policies which are aimed at overcoming the problems of rural poverty, rural unemployment, rural public services. We need to take back the Land Reform act from the SNP and show that we are not an urban party who thinks that one size fits all for both rural and urban constituencies. We need to acknowledge the differences, come up with a progressive Rural Affairs manifesto and aggressively promote it in rural constituencies.
It seems to me that Scottish rural policy is made by urban politicians whose only connection with rural affairs is gained by listening to The Archers. It is vital that rural policy is made by those whose everyday existence is spent living and working in Rural Scotland.
It is gin clear, to those of us in rural constituencies, that we need a comprehensive rural manifesto that covers all aspects of country life with the detailed and specific emphasis on how Scottish Labour will deliver equal access to public services and benefits in our remote and rural areas.
mullingkintyre 