Rural Fair Share Campaign
Debate between Baroness Laing of Elderslie and Graham Stuart
Madam Deputy Speaker (Mrs Eleanor Laing)
Before I call the 31 petitions to be presented, I must explain to the House how we will deal with their large number. Once the first petition relating to the rural fair share campaign has been read to the House, with its prayer, subsequent petitions on the same topic should not be read out in full. Members should give a brief description of the number and location of the petitioners and state that the petition is “in the same terms”. Members presenting more than one petition should present them together.
When a Member has presented a petition, he or she should proceed to the Table and hand it to the Clerk, who will read its title and then hand it back to the Member. He or she should then proceed directly to the petitions bag at the back of the Chair. I will call the next Member immediately after the Clerk has read the title. At the expiry of half an hour, no further petitions may be presented orally, but they may be placed in the petition bag and will be recorded as formally presented. If all Members speak and move swiftly, all 31 petitions should be able to be presented and no one will be left out.
I call Mr Graham Stuart to present his petition.
Mr Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness) (Con)
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I also thank Mr Speaker for allowing so many of us to present our petitions this evening. In fact, 119 petitions have been returned from constituencies around the country. Usually, at the close of business, the House empties, but instead, this evening, it has filled up with colleagues who have come to send a strong call from the countryside, a cry from the heart of England. I am delighted to see that the Secretary of State and the Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, my hon. Friend the Member for Great Yarmouth (Brandon Lewis), are present to hear from us tonight.
Contrary to the myth, rural residents earn less on average than people in cities and pay council tax that is £76 a head higher, yet they see urban areas receive 50% more per head, despite the obvious higher cost of delivering many services in a rural area. We are calling on the Government to make a change; all we ask for is a rural fair share.
The petition states:
The Petition of the residents of Beverley and Holderness,
Declares that the Petitioners believe that the Local Government Finance Settlement is unfair to rural communities; notes that the Rural Penalty sees urban areas receive 50% more support per head than rural areas despite higher costs in rural service delivery; and opposes the planned freezing of this inequity in the 2013–14 settlement for six years until 2020.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to reduce the Rural Penalty in staged steps by at least 10% by 2020.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.
[P001238]