MP criticises 'a decade of disrespect'

Mr Herbert has called on ministers to return powers to local people. Speaking in a House of Commons debate, he said rural communities had been let down by a government which had taken powers away and given them to a mass of quangos.

Mr Herbert, who is the shadow secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, said the economic recession was hitting rural areas hard.

He also criticised the government's 'lamentable' record on rural services. He listed the closure of post offices, rural job centres, the shutting of hundreds of small rural schools, the failure to build affordable homes and the loss of thousands of local shops.

This had left almost half of small English towns and villages without a shop.

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