Jim Drysdale, Anderson Strathern Solicitors

It was the time for the rural spokespersons of the political parties to impress their constituents at a hustings event in Edinburgh on 19 April 2011organised by Anderson Strathern Solicitors in association with the Scottish Rural Property and Business Association (SRPBA) and the Scottish Countryside Alliance (SCA).   An audience of around 80 from across the rural sector heard Sarah Boyack (Labour), Miles Briggs (Conservative), Robin Harper (Green), Jim Hume (Liberal Democrat) and Richard Lochhead (SNP) highlight the main points from their rural manifestos and take questions.

Sarah Boyack spoke of a Commission for Rural Scotland and factoring rural communities into the decision making process.  She spoke of boosting incomes, creating jobs and creating training opportunities including modern apprenticeships in textiles, tourism, forestry and food and drink, and a ‘Plus One’ scheme for rural business. She said Labour was committed to effective lobbying in Brussels on the CAP, more investment in rural broadband, rural transport and exports, and a fair deal for food producers, as well as developing tourism opportunities, and community renewable schemes. 

Miles Briggs reiterated the Conservatives positive stance towards rural businesses, standing up for rural communities and investment in infrastructure, expanding the scope of the rural business rates relief scheme, and a rural business start-up fund.  He also spoke of the accelerated introduction of super-fast broadband, integrating the regulatory functions of rural bodies, and common-sense policies applied across the rural sector.

Robin Harper spoke for the protection and enhancement of the environment, presumption against the closure of rural schools, and land value taxation as a mechanism to deliver rural benefits including more rural housing.  He criticised the landbanking of supermarkets for future development, and called for the continuing subsidy of farming, forestry and possibly wildlife tourism.

Jim Hume pledged support for the CAP but with cross-border inequities ironed out.  He said that smaller schemes should be able to be fast tracked through the Rural Development Programme, and that the national reserve could be used to top up LFAS payments where appropriate.  He wanted local authorities in Scotland to be aware of the provenance of the food they buy.  He also expressed concerns about the power of the major supermarkets, and advocated a ‘home on the farm’ scheme to enable more rural housing.

Richard Lochhead spoke of food, environment, climate change and water security.  He said that more should and could be made of both human and natural resources, the continued momentum of the National Food Policy and ongoing opportunities with the world crying out for Scottish produce citing salmon, venison and whisky as examples.  He said the SNP would continue to have a loud voice on CAP and fisheries policy, and that rural infrastructure – schools, healthcare and housing – needed protection and enhancement.  He said that a recent survey had shown that people lived longer and were happier and safer in the countryside, and that rural policy should continue to improve quality of life.

Jim Drysdale, Partner, Anderson Strathern, said: “As a firm we recognise it is the rich tapestry of the different activities in the countryside which combine to give rural Scotland its distinctive flavour. It is the larder as well as being the leisure area, and today we saw a broad range of policy ideas from the platform. Some incisive questions from the floor covered everything from succession to renewables, tail docking to fish farming, fuel to land reform, and deer management to new entrants into agriculture. While this event could only scratch the surface given the breadth of rural issues it has certainly indicated where we might expect respective party policies to lie in the next Parliamentary term.”