Rural society 'run to point of extinction'
PUBLISHED: 11:06 13 May 2008 | UPDATED: 08:25 28 March 2014
MAY 13, 2008: Rural society has been run to the point of extinction by a decade of “top-down” government, according to David Cameron.
local schools, police stations, shops and libraries.
Prime
Minister Gordon Brown, he said, was more concerned with targets and
bureaucracy than listening to local people and common sense.
He
addressed an audience as part of the Campaign for the Protection of
Rural England (CPRE) debate on how agriculture will look in 2026.
“For
the last decade or so, in the name of modernisation, rationalisation
and efficiency we have been living under a regime of government by
management consultant and policy by powerpoint.”
He said that a
regime controlled by 'big' government had 'undermined the institutions
that make up society – family, neighbourhood and community'.
“Take
food and farming. Many British consumers want to back British farmers
by buying their produce, but often find it difficult because of
inadequate labelling.
"Food can be imported to Britain,
processed here, and subsequently labelled in a way that suggests it is
genuinely British. It is the proper job of government to ensure that
labelling is accurate and clear.
“But government is not only
failing to impose sensible new regulations that would protect the
countryside. They are even getting rid of existing ones.”
Mr Cameron also attacked the Government for failing to provide adequate regulation to protect farmers from big supermarkets.
“It’s
not exactly a relationship of equals. The supermarkets have been in the
habit of using their market power to squeeze the margins of those they
buy from.
"Delivering low prices through efficiencies is good
for customers and a good thing in general - particularly at a time when
the cost of living is going up. But doing so through abuse of market
power or, for example through hitting suppliers with in-year
retrospective discounts is not,” he said.