Political Update
This week, the legislative agenda of the UK’s new Government was set out in the King’s Speech. Initial reaction to the new Prime Minister's first stab at major policy announcement suggest that his government is not short on ambition when it comes to social reform. The key difficulty he will now face is a call for detail, of which the King’s Speech was notably scarce. That is not unusual in the early days of a new government, and the Prime Minister will rightly be given the space and time to make this detail available in due course.
However, very little has been said so far on the challenges facing people living and working in rural area across the UK. We want to see this change. That is why we have written to the Prime Minister, DEFRA Secretary, and Scotland Secretary to ensure that they are aware of the challenges rural communities are facing here in Scotland and across the UK, and the direct action they can take to address these challenges, based on those we outlined in ‘Our Priorities for Rural Scotland’ in the run up to the election.
Scotland’s rural sector is a key delivery partner for the climate and nature targets set by the UK and Scottish Governments. It is more important than ever for both of our governments to work with, and not against rural businesses to deliver the positive change we want to see for people, jobs and nature. SLE will be working hard over the summer to ensure that this message is conveyed in the strongest possible terms to Westminster and Holyrood. We want to place rural issues at the heart of this new era of British politics.
This will only be possible if we can bring both of Scotland's governments on board with us and demonstrate the value our countryside custodians are bringing to our efforts to tackle the climate and nature emergencies. But we won't stop at those in power. We also look forward to working constructively with the new opposition too, who we hope will continue to be a strong voice on rural issues as they hold the government north and south of the border to account.
Exciting and challenging times lay ahead for us. We're looking forward to getting stuck in.
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