Carlisle MP John Stevenson has joined a Parliamentary committee which examines the productivity gap between urban and rural areas.
The Rural Business and Rural Powerhouse All Party Parliamentary Group works with industrial bosses, charities academics and business.
It produced one of the most comprehensive enquiries ever undertaken by an All Party Parliamentary Group, Levelling Up the Rural Economy.
Mr Stevenson said he recognised the importance of the rural hinterland of Carlisle and was intending to build on the recommendations of the report.
This is the seventh group that Mr Stevenson works with. Others are Food and Drink, Hadrian’s Wall, Key Cities, Nuclear Energy, Taxation and West Coast Mainline.
Mr Stevenson said: “The contribution rural businesses make to our national and local economies is vitally important and they deserve the very best help to succeed.
“If we are to promote the capabilities of the countryside we need to create the right conditions so that businesses which are ready to expand and diversify are helped to do just that, thereby creating good local jobs for more people.”
