If the economic downturn has told us anything, it is that our economy is unbalanced and at risk. When the City of London – which pays 11% of all UK tax – takes a dive, then so do the rest of us.
Some Labour MPs say the economy must be strengthened by a shift to manufacturing. But the rural economy can also bring jobs and prosperity to working people.
The rolling countryside may not seem a hotbed of economic activity. But, according to the government’s outgoing “rural advocate”, the English rural economy has the potential to create £236 billion and £347 billion per annum. And while some peoples’ ideas of the countryside may be all about cows, pigs and sheep, the truth is very different.
Newcastle University’s centre for rural economy has found that farming takes up just 2.6% of rural employment. 80% of rural employment is in distribution and retailing, business and financial services, public administration, education, training and health and – finally – manufacturing. (more…)