Labour's rural policy

摘要

The Government's Rural White Paper is expected this autumn. But we can already discern the direction it will take from the Cabinet Office report on Rural Economies published with little fanfare in December. The report was prepared by the Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU), one of the think-tanks that Tony Blair has surrounded himself with, this one devoted to joined-up government. The tone and philosophy of the report reveal a great deal not only about the Government's approach to rural issues, but also about its particular technocratic and presidential style of policy-making.