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Rural Communities

I may be biased, but I believe Norfolk is a beautiful place to grow up and grow old in. It is the place where I was born and raised, and it is where I call home. Like so many rural communities, it is a place that values co-operation, community and compassion, but for so many years those values were tested. We saw Conservative cuts to the very services that bind our communities together, without thought for the long-term implications. In Norfolk, cuts were driven by the Conservative Government and enacted by the Conservative county council—cuts to our children’s services and our youth outdoor education facilities being just a few examples of that insidious decline.

One of the industries that underpins so many of our rural communities is, of course, farming. In a debate about rural communities, we must recognise that farming is in crisis; the Conservatives may be keen to suggest that this is something new, but the reality is that the decline started many years ago and got worse on their watch. It is of particular concern to me that fewer farms will mean bigger farms, and the further industrialisation of farming would trigger the next wave of rural decline. The farm is so integral to rural life, with farmers so often at the core of it. Who serves on the parish councils and the internal drainage boards? Who helps to sponsor the football club or the cricket club? Who gets the cars out of the ditches or the snow off the lanes, as we have seen just this week? It is hard to quantify that value—it cannot be recorded on a balance sheet—but I see it and feel it, as do many other hon. Members.

Farmers in my constituency remember all too well the failures of the past Tory Government and the lack of progress over so many years. Today, we are debating rural issues. If we read the text of the motion, we see that it contains not a single mention of our NHS. It contains nothing about public services such as adult social care, or about dentistry. [Interruption.] Do rural people not get ill? Do they not grow old?