Tim Farron — who is nearing his 20th anniversary of being Westmorland and Lonsdale’s MP — says he is humbled to have the opportunity to represent his constituents in the new parliament, and is getting ready to fight for the issues that matter to them.
The former Lib Dem leader picked up a landslide victory on July 4, receiving 63 per cent of the vote share, picking up 31,061 votes across the newly redrawn Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency — a result which sees him returned to Westminster for the sixth time.
Tim says: “Humbled, I think is the right word. The thing to remember, being a Member of Parliament, it is a vocation, a calling, but it is also a role that is lent to you by the local communities, and so you never take it for granted. It is never yours by right. So, to be elected with what is such a substantial result is properly humbling.”
The re-elected MP says it is an honour to represent such a special part of the country, and he remains committed to being a strong advocate for every person and every community within it.
“The constituency includes the largest chunk of the Lake District, a very significant chunk of the Dales, and lots of other beautiful places that are not quite in the national parks; so there is a sense that we live in a special place, but it is under quite a lot of pressure,” he said.
Tim highlights a raft of issues on which he will be campaigning — housing, protecting local services such as schools, bus services, better access to health services, protecting post offices, and more; but unsurprisingly in such a big rural area, supporting farmers is something he intends to very much prioritise at Westminster.
“I think we have to absolutely understand the importance of farming,” says Tim. “Farming is under serious threat at the moment. Farmers are angry with the last government, and I think they feel a sense of nervousness about the new one.
“The new farm payments scheme — is there enough money in it and is it going to go to the right places? My big fear is that not enough of it is going to go to family farmers, to tenants, and smallholder occupiers. We want to be in the situation where we are both promoting great environmental practice but also making sure we produce the food that we need, and we don’t lose a bunch of farmers during the transition.
“We all depend massively on farming for our natural environment and we all need to eat, the current situation is that Britain only produces about 60 per cent of the
food that it eats.” The country needs more food independence, and that is where farmers come in. “We should be moving from 60 to up to at least 70 per cent. You don’t do that by accident, you do that by supporting farmers to farm, keeping them in the industry, and at the same time by helping them to farm in ways that are nature friendly.”
Another priority is to campaign for changes in planning law at the local level, in order to promote sustainable housing that benefits the community. “I want to strongly push for this to be the case. So that a second home and a short-term let are both separate categories of planning use, and not treated the same as a normal house.
“That means the planning authority — the council or the national park – would then have the power to limit the numbers of those in each community, therefore maximise the number of homes that are available and are affordable to live in, for purchase and for renting. Half the problem is how we manage the existing housing stock, so we maximise the amount that is lived in permanently by local people.
“The other half of it is that when we do build new homes, we are not building expensive houses that nobody can afford. That will only happen when the Government changes the law to gives the council the power to do that.”
There is an economic case for this as well as a social one, says Tim, with many jobs in the county such as in social care, and hospitality/tourism unfilled due to unaffordable housing.
Another issue in the in-tray, is to campaign for improved water quality. This needs “radical action” says Tim, who wants the Government to take away the licenses of the water companies: “So that we can have new not for profit community benefit companies that put the water quality before the profits.”
Tim says there are good noises coming from the incoming Labour government on this, but he and the Lib Dems will be there to hold them to account. With his latest mandate to represent the people of Westmorland and Lonsdale, Tim says a key part of his job is being accessible and approachable to listen to people’s concerns and problems. “For me, being present in the community is key,” he says. “The first thing I did on Saturday morning was to go to Appleby for an hour and a half in the market square and talk to anyone who wanted to have a chat.”
The plan is to have more of these ‘outdoor surgeries’ in the next few weeks, and in August he hopes to do a full constituency surgery tour, where he will spend time in communities up and down the region. This includes reaching new constituents that now have Tim as their MP for the first time, following the historic boundary changes.
“I am very aware that the last time that North Westmorland had a non-Conservative MP was the 1906 parliament, he says. This is an area that has been represented by Conservatives in all that time, so it is my job now to prove to those communities that they have made a good choice.”
