ACT hosts a Rural Hustings Event
Borrowdale near Keswick
28th June 2024
On the 27th of June ACT held a Rural Hustings for the 2024 general election.
Candidates from all parties were invited and seven attended in total; four from the Liberal Democrats, one from the Green Party, one from the Heritage Party, and one from Reform UK.
We received six apologies: three from Conservative Party candidates and three from Labour Party candidates. One written statement was submitted from a Conservative Party candidate, which you can read here.
The recording is 1.5 hours, beginning with a four-minute statement from each of the seven candidates, responding to ACRE’s No Rural Community Left Behind - Recommendations for the next government document.
This was followed by a series of 1.5-minute responses from each candidate to the following questions compiled from issues raised by participants:
- What will you do to ensure fair and equal access to fibre broadband for rural people?
- How will you increase the availability of locally affordable homes to rent and buy in rural communities?
- Rural residents pay more and travel further for all services. What bold action can you take on rural transport and travel, including travel for health services to address this inequality?
- How will you help rural communities contribute to decarbonisation and our critical net zero targets as part of a just transition?
- How will you ensure our small rural communities (less than 2,000 population) can be vibrant, sustainable, healthy places to live and work over the next five years?
ACT encourages all candidates and future MPs to consider how policy affects people and businesses and communities in rural areas. ACT is committed to working with all elected representatives to champion rural and community issue so that no one is disadvantaged by where they live.
Thank you to the candidates who made time to take part and to those who attended.