Rural residents 'living in poverty'

Launching a party policy paper on rural issues, Sir Menzies said the countryside suffered under both the previous Conservative administration and the current Labour Government, which appeared not to care about non-urban areas.

He put forward a raft of proposals to improve rural life, including road tax breaks for country dwellers, increased council tax on second homes, boosted funding for pupils at rural schools and more police and post offices.

Under the Lib Dem plans outlined in A Fair Future For Rural England, motorists in the most sparsely populated areas would get a 50% discount on road tax for one car per household - excluding the most polluting 4X4s.

Councils would be permitted to cut discounts on council tax enjoyed by second home owners. And there would be support for bio-energy crops, a drive to link rural areas to broadband and more outreach clinics and home visits to give country-dwellers better access to healthcare.

Visiting the Royal Agricultural Show in Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, Sir Menzies is due to say: "The popular image of a rural idyll hides a darker reality of rural hardship.

"Our rural communities are suffering from inadequate transport systems, local schools and services like post offices closing down and housing that is no longer affordable.

"Labour does not seem to care about the countryside, but we also remember the damage suffered by the rural economy under the previous 18 years of Conservative rule.

"Farming remains at the heart of the rural economy and rural life. Farmers are often the custodians of the countryside that we love. That is why we have developed long-term policies for the future of agriculture.

"I believe that our rural communities can have a thriving future, and the proposals in A Fair Future for Rural England outline how the Liberal Democrats would achieve this."