LIVING in the countryside is becoming ever more difficult in many ways, whether it be shopping, mobility or simply making a living.

The idea of an effective Independent Food Standards Agency has been widely welcomed, but the government's plans to fund it with a sneaky tax on corner shops is wrong.

Labour's plan for a £90 tax on all food outlets, regardless of size, will simply punish small shops and village stores, and will be inefficient to collect.

Why should hard-pressed local corner shops have to pay for it when they are already struggling to survive against the big supermarkets?

Nor did Gordon Brown's budget do anything to help small businesses and commerce.

Road tax on lorries will rise by £25 million overall, another stealth tax on business which will push up the prices of goods and foods in the shops.

Yet again it is the smaller shops that will be worst affected by the increased costs which will have to be passed on to their customers.

And, while the average motorist will pay an extra £50 a year in fuel tax as a direct result of the budget, it is the less well off and motorists in rural areas who will be the hardest hit.

Whether it's the village shop and its daily deliveries or people attempting to go about their everyday routines it is those people living in rural areas who are worst affected by this government's policies.

LIVING in the countryside is becoming ever more difficult in many ways, whether it be shopping, mobility or simply making a living.

The idea of an effective Independent Food Standards Agency has been widely welcomed, but the government's plans to fund it with a sneaky tax on corner shops is wrong.

Labour's plan for a £90 tax on all food outlets regardless of size will simply punish small shops and village stores, and will be inefficient to collect.

Why should hard-pressed local corner shops have to pay for it when they are already struggling to surivive against the big supermarkets?

Nor did Gordon Brown's budget do anything to help small businesses and commerce.

Road tax on lorries will rise by £25 million overall, another stealth tax on business which will push up the prices of goods and foods in the shops.

Yet again it is the smaller shops which will be worst affected by the increased costs which will have to be passed on to their customers.

And while the average motorist will pay an extra £50 a year in fuel tax as a direct result of the budget, it is the less well off and motorists in rural areas who will be the hardest hit.

Whether it's the village shop and its daily deliveries or people attempting to go about their everyday routines it is those people living in rural areas who are worst affected by this government's policies.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.