Campaign for the Countryside launched in Westminster

Rural organisations from shooting, farming, hunting, racing and angling gathered in Westminster on Monday 14 September for the launch of the Campaign for the Countryside, the Countryside Alliance’s push to make Prime Minister Andy Burnham change course on rural policy. Former National Farmers’ Union (NFU) president Baroness Minette Batters was among the headline speakers at the event, which follows two years of what the alliance calls an unprecedented run of anti-rural measures.

Which shooting policies are on the list of 27?

By the alliance’s count, the Government has introduced or proposed at least 27 measures since 2024 that threaten the economic and social sustainability of rural communities. Alongside the inheritance tax changes hitting family farms, the closure of the SFI24 farm payment scheme and higher employers’ National Insurance, the list includes restrictions on shotgun ownership, rising firearms licensing fees, the proposed ban on trail hunting and the Government’s review of gamebird release.

The alliance argues that the countryside contributes more than £300 billion a year to the economy and supports more than four million jobs, while it cites polling suggesting two-thirds of voters think the Government neglects rural people.

A new Prime Minister, a new path

Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, said the timing of the campaign was significant. “After two years where an unprecedented range of government policies have left rural people feeling under attack, a new Prime Minister provides an opportunity for the government to reset its relationship with rural Britain and recognise the contribution the countryside can make to the whole country,” he said.

“Rural people are not asking government to solve every problem overnight. They are asking to be heard, understood and treated fairly. It is time to treat the countryside as part of the solution to a united Britain, not a problem or an afterthought. Now is the time for a rural reset.”

Mr Burnham has already reversed Government positions on a digital ID scheme, bus fares and green levies since entering No 10, the alliance points out, and it believes rural policy can follow. One in four postcodes in Britain is rural, and more than 100 Labour MPs represent constituencies with at least a rural element.

What did Lord Blunkett say about trail hunting?

The campaign drew support from inside Labour’s own ranks on the eve of the launch. Writing in The Telegraph, former Labour home secretary Lord Blunkett urged the Prime Minister to learn from the “mistakes” of the family farm tax and to “set aside proposals to ban trail hunting”. He added: “For our countryside to be sustainable, it requires a listening government.”

Mr Burnham said only days before entering No 10 that he fully supported the proposed trail hunting ban, but ministers delayed publication of the plans last week, according to reports.

Responding to the campaign, a Government spokesperson told the Yorkshire Post that the Prime Minister had pledged growth in every postcode, adding: “This includes a record £11.8bn into sustainable farming and food production, to build a profitable, productive and resilient farming sector that supports growth across the country.”

What happens next?

The alliance is asking supporters to send a message to the Prime Minister through the Campaign for the Countryside website, with every message copied to the sender’s own MP. The delayed trail hunting proposals have yet to reappear, and Defra’s two-month call for evidence on gamebird release remains open, so the campaign’s early weeks will show whether the new Government is listening.