Countryside Alliance takes rural reset demand to Westminster

The Countryside Alliance will launch its Campaign for the Countryside in Westminster on the afternoon of Monday 14 September, pressing the new Prime Minister to change course on policies it says are damaging shooting and the wider rural economy. Chief executive Tim Bonner says the organisation has counted “at least 27 measures” introduced over the past two years that pose “a direct and present threat to the economic and social sustainability of rural communities”.

What is on the Countryside Alliance’s list of 27?

Writing in his weekly column on 3 September, Mr Bonner named restrictions on shotgun ownership among the measures, alongside the family farm tax on agricultural inheritance, the rise in employers’ National Insurance and affordability checks on betting. The past two years, he argued, have produced “a raft of policies that have, knowingly or unknowingly, had a detrimental impact on rural interests”.

Campaign material reported by Farmers Weekly also points to rising firearms licensing fees, the proposed trail hunting ban and measures affecting game shooting, putting the sport close to the centre of the campaign’s case.

A new Prime Minister can choose a new path

The Countryside Alliance believes the change at the top of government is the opening. Mr Bonner noted that Andy Burnham has already reversed policies on a digital identity scheme, bus fares and green levies since becoming Prime Minister, and said there is no reason he cannot “fully protect family farms from inheritance tax and drop divisive policies like the trail hunting ban”.

He pointed out that one in four postcodes in Britain is rural, and that more than 100 Labour MPs represent constituencies with at least a rural element. “Rural people are not asking Ministers to solve every problem overnight, nor are we unrealistic about the multiple demands facing government,” he wrote. “What we are asking is to be heard, understood and treated fairly.”

Inside the Westminster launch

An invited audience drawn from a wide range of rural organisations will hear from senior politicians about the options facing the new government, and why the Countryside Alliance believes a positive approach to rural issues is the sensible political strategy. Farmers Weekly reports that former National Farmers’ Union president Minette Batters is billed among the headline speakers, and that a campaign video shows livestock, pheasants, hounds and racehorses descending on Downing Street.

Registration is essential for security purposes, with the venue and timings sent to registered attendees ahead of the event. A few places remained when the Countryside Alliance published its announcement.

What happens next

The campaign launches on the afternoon of Monday 14 September in Westminster. As part of it, the Countryside Alliance will give supporters the chance to send a message to the Prime Minister, copied to their own MP, urging a change of course on rural issues, through its Rural Reset campaign site. ShootingUK will follow the campaign as it develops.