‘You don’t get there by taking a populist stance!’ Louth and Horncastle MP Victoria Atkins on a Tory re-brand and fighting family farm tax and pylon plans
An MP has vowed to fight against the construction of pylons in the county.
Victoria Atkins said the plans by National Grid to build pylons and substations in the Lincolnshire Wolds would ‘scar’ the landscape.
The Louth and Horncastle MP is campaigning against the proposal to build an 87-mile stretch of pylons between Grimsby and Walpole in Norfolk.
She’s said she’s also challenging plans by National Grid to build two 400kV substations south-west of Mablethorpe.
Ms Atkins was speaking a year after the Conservatives faced a significant defeat to Labour in the general election and outlined what she believes needs to be done to regain people’s support for her party
She said: “The biggest campaign alongside the family farm tax and stopping that is of course our campaign to fight the pylons and the industrial substations that this government wants to scar our East coast with in the coming years.
"We are so lucky to have this very undeveloped landscape both rich in beauty and rich in the quality of the land that is used to grow the food that feeds us all.
“We’re very proud in our corner of Lincolnshire of being very agricultural and being able to contribute so much to the nation.
"But we can’t do that if our landscape is scarred with pylons and industrial substations.”
Ms Atkins criticised the plans and said they would ‘overwhelm’ the rural landscape.
She added: “It isn’t just the people who are living in the villages that will be overwhelmed by these Amazon warehouse substations, it’s also the views that we cherish so much from the Lincolnshire Wolds.
"It’s the community spirit and the quietness of our corner of the country.”
Ms Atkins also said that there were other ways of generating electricity which wouldn’t ‘concrete’ over the landscape.
She said: “I’ve long said in the time I’ve been campaigning on this that there are alternatives including building a second grid off shore and undergrounding cables.
"There are alternatives but it needs the political will from the government to ensure they’re not concreting over the Lincolnshire coastline.”
The MP said that she’s set up a petition to invite the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, to visit the Lincolnshire Wolds to see the impact that the pylons would cause on the area.
Ms Atkins went on to acknowledge that the Conservative party has some work to do after losing to Labour at last year’s general election.
She said: “This has been a year unlike any other in the Conservative party’s history.
"We got the message loud and clear at the election last year that the public wanted us to rebuild but also have a think about where we were and come back with policies and a commitment to delivering those policies that people can get excited about but also have faith in.”
She went on to confirm the Conservative party’s commitment to axing the family farm tax which the current Labour government has introduced.
The current Labour government has proposed a 20% tax on farms worth more than £1 million.
Ms Aktins said this policy has ‘hurt’ a lot of family farms and businesses and would be revoked under a Conservative government.
She said: “This sort of attitude shows a great ignorance about how difficult farming can be and it has a chilling effect on entrepreneurial spirit and we’re seeing it across small businesses.
"There’s also a human cost to this family farm tax.
“I know sadly of many families who are having very difficult conversations across the kitchen table as a result of this tax change.
"I will not let Labour get away with this policy. They have to understand the hurt that family farms and family businesses are feeling as a result of their vindictive tax change.”
Ms Atikns concluded by saying that it’s important to be ‘straight’ with people about which policies are actually achievable.
She said: “My job and the job of Kemi Benenoch (Conservative leader) and others is to say there is an alternative and you can have a bright future for our great country. You don’t get there by making promises you can’t keep.
“You don’t get there by taking a populist stance. You’ve got to be straight with people and think these policies through carefully.”
A National Grid spokesperson said: “National Grid's Grimsby to Walpole project will deliver homegrown, more affordable electricity to where it is needed, helping to meet the rising demand for electricity in Lincolnshire and across the East Midlands and increasing Britain's energy security.
Overhead lines using pylons is the most affordable way to deliver this urgent infrastructure for all electricity bill payers.
"While underground cables have been considered, an overhead line offers the most efficient, reliable and cost-effective way to deliver the home-grown British energy which will lower our electricity bills in the long-term and make us more energy independent.”
