The Rural Fair Share Campaign, formed in January this year by rural MPs seeking to reduce the public funding gap between rural and urban regions, has stepped up efforts to tackle the discrepancy in funding levels ahead of Chancellor George Osborne's Autumn Statement on 4th December.

Since late October, MPs supporting the campaign have organised petitions in their constituencies. 119 petitions collected in response to years of underfunding will be presented in the House of Commons on Monday (4th November). MPs representing all three major parties argue that cuts introduced by the Coalition government since 2010 have been disproportionately severe in rural areas.   

According to the Group's secretary, Conservative MP for Beverly Graham Stuart, "The campaign [brings] together Members of both Houses of Parliament, along with organisations, community groups, and individuals concerned about the welfare of our rural communities. The Rural Fair Share campaign supports impartial, objective, needs based policy which is equitable to all."

The group has based its calls on the findings of the Rural Services Network report, which showed that, on average, rural residents earn less than those in cities but pay £1,000 more per head in council tax and benefit from fewer essential services (urban areas are estimated to receive government grants fifty per cent higher per head than those in the countryside, according to the Fair Share group). The group of MPs is calling for future budget allocations to recognise the higher cost of delivering services in more sparsely populated rural regions.

Labour's local government spokesperson has recognised the issue and pledged to introduce a fairer spending formula if the part is successful in the 2015 elections. However, although local government minister Brandon Lewis pledged action on the 'rural penalty' in February, the Coalition has since denied the existence of a funding gap.

Mr Lewis said earlier in the year, "Because we are listening, we are going to do more to support rural areas and manage the extra costs of delivering services in those areas." However, in late October the government rejected the suggestion that the current system of calculating the local government finance settlement was unfair to rural areas.

Responding to a report by the EFRA committee, a government spokesperson did acknowledge that, "Producing figures at a national level for per-capita spending is inherently problematic due to the multi-tier nature of English local government," though the spokesperson said that attention is paid to areas of the country most dependent on government funding, regardless of whether they are urban or rural.

According to Committee Chair Anne McIntosh, the EFRA report revealed that, "The current system of calculating the local government finance settlement is deeply unfair to rural areas in comparison with their urban counterparts. This is unacceptable. Rural communities pay more in council tax, receive less government grant and have access to fewer public services than people in large towns and cities."