He says it is fundamentally unjust that families in the countryside should be left with poorer council services while paying more council tax than those in towns.
Now he is planning to put pressure on the Government to iron out inconsistencies which, he says, have been allowed to exist for far too long.
Mr Liddell-Grainger, Conservative MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, was speaking after a meeting organised by the Rural Fair Share campaign which is trying to end the imbalance between Government cash settlements for urban and rural authorities.
According to a report by the Rural Services Network, rural residents earn less, on average, than those in cities, pay council tax which is £81 higher per head, and see urban areas receive government grants fifty per cent higher per head than those in the countryside. Meanwhile delivering services in sparsely populated rural areas also tends to be more expensive, which can add to the burden.
Mr Liddell-Grainger said the latest Government settlements for the two councils in his constituency, Sedgemoor and West Somerset, had both been derisory.
“The allocations take no account of the special circumstances and particular needs of people living in rural areas. It’s almost as though because people live in attractive countryside they can somehow be expected to manage with less at the expense of others in urban environments,” he said.
“But as I always point out you can’t pay a water bill with a view.
“It is absolutely essential that we even out the differences between urban and rural settlements because if we don’t all that will happen will be a continued drift of young families away from the countryside and into towns leaving a landscape covered with villages which will only show any signs of life when the second home owners and week-enders are in residence.”