Glad you are here: Farron welcomes PM to the Lakes

South Lakes MP Tim Farron has welcomed Gordon Brown to the Lake District for his summer holiday but has urged the Prime Minister to take notice of the decline in services that has accompanied years of neglect to rural Britain.

2,500 rural post offices have been closed since 2008 with South Lakeland losing five following the Post Office's Network Change Programme. South Lakeland has also suffered from the removal of acute medical services from Westmorland and General Hospital and from a severe shortage in affordable housing.

Commenting Mr Farron said:

"I'm delighted that Gordon Brown has chosen the Lake District as the destination for his summer holidays and I hope he returns home suitably refreshed and having enjoyed his vacation. But I hope he returns to number 10 with first hand experience of how the removal of public services has devastated rural Britain.

"Over the past decade the Government has shown itself to be deaf to the concerns of the countryside. Here in South Lakeland we've seen health services withdrawn, post offices closed, and power taken away from local people.

"We need a new approach to rural Britain that protects and improves on our public services and gives rural communities the power to make the decisions that affect them. Hopefully having spent some time in the Lake District, he'll now fully realise the importance of protecting sustainable rural communities throughout Britain."