Andy Burnham has been warned not to make an “enemy” of a rural Britain which feels “under attack”. A major “campaign for the countryside” will be launched tomorrow with champions of farming, rural businesses and country sports converging in Westminster.
Campaign to reset relations
Nick Herbert, the chairman of the Countryside Alliance, is at the heart of efforts to persuade the new prime minister to ditch a host of controversial policies and “reset” relations with the “millions of people” for whom rural Britain is home. The former policing minister – now Baron Herbert of South Downs – is an expert at shaping public opinion. He played a leading role in marshalling opposition to Britain joining the euro.
The Countryside Alliance has identified 27 “harmful” policies “announced or imposed” since Labour took power a little over two years ago.
Speaking ahead of Monday’s campaign launch, he says: “I think that this range of attacks on the countryside is unprecedented in its breadth.”
Concerns over trail hunting ban
Alongside concern about potential building on the green belt, proposals for tougher shotgun licensing and the impact of increased National Insurance contributions, there is dismay at plans to ban trail hunting – which sees hounds follow a scent across the countryside.
“The priority of the tens of thousands of people who enjoy trail hunting at the moment is to ensure that that lawful activity, which doesn't involve the pursuit of an animal but involves the pursuit of a smelly rag, is not outlawed,” he says.
The Government argues that trail hunting can result in foxes, hares and in some cases household pets being killed or injured.
“To say that it should be banned outright is like saying that because somebody speeds you should abolish cars,” Lord Herbert retorts, adding: “We’ve kept the tradition going in a way that is completely benign. I think it would be a tragedy to lose that through an act of spite.”
Inheritance tax and reset opportunity
Labour triggered tractor protests in Whitehall when, shortly after taking power, it unveiled plans that would force more farming families to pay inheritance tax. The proposals were watered down in the face of fierce opposition, but only after harrowing reports of deep distress and anxiety in rural communities. Lord Herbert believes the Government was “bounced” by the Treasury into “attacking the people who put food on our tables” and argues it is time for a “fresh start”.
The 63-year-old says: “I think there is this opportunity for a reset, and I think the countryside stands ready to play its part to support the mission of delivering better growth, of contributing to our national renewal. I don't think the countryside wants to be against the Government.
“The real question is: Is the Government against the countryside?”
The self-described “country boy” grew up in rural Essex and now lives on the Cambridgeshire-Suffolk border. After studying Law and Land Economy at Cambridge he worked on agriculture and environment issues for the Conservative Research Department – Margaret Thatcher's policy engine room.
“She was a hero to all of us and we were in awe,” he remembers.
He was part of the team striving to secure a Tory win in the 1986 West Derbyshire by-election when the then-PM delivered “prophetic words”, saying: “We are going to win the next general election, and we will win the election after that.”
She then described her bigger ambition of replacing the Opposition with a party that “believes in fundamentally the same things as we do”.
Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson would push Labour to the Right ahead of the 1997 landslide, but Lord Herbert does not hide his disappointment with the party’s present treatment of rural Britain.
“I can tell you,” he says, “she would not have dreamed of assaulting the countryside in this way”.
Advice for the PM
He would go on to do public affairs for the British Field Sports Society before helping found the Countryside Movement, the predecessor of the Countryside Alliance. And as concern mounted that the Blair Government would take the UK into the single currency, he took the helm of Business for Sterling: “My view is and was that it would have been an economic disaster for Britain to have aligned with the euro because our currency moves between the euro and the dollar... Keeping the pound was vital, and we succeeded.”
The peer hired Dominic Cummings, who would go on to play pivotal roles in Vote Leave and Boris Johnson’s Downing Street.
“He's incredibly talented, as we came to see,” he remarks, adding: “We were on different sides of the argument when it came when it came to Brexit, and he won.”
From 2005 to 2019 he was MP for the rural seat of Arundel and South Downs, which is now held by Shadow Chancellor Andrew Griffith. Today, he hopes Mr Burnham will adopt a new approach to dealing with the countryside. The PM has promised a “Makerfield test at the heart of British politics” – named after his constituency – to “make sure that the places Westminster has neglected will now get fairness”.
“Tell me how swinging at racing, swinging at farming, swinging at trail hunting, remotely benefits the people of Makerfield,” Lord Herbert says.
Instead, he urges Labour to take action to tackle fly-tipping and rural crime:
“If the Government helps to deal with issues like that, they'll get universal support in the countryside. People in the countryside want things like that sorted out.
“They want the potholes in their roads dealt with. They want the fact they can't get a broadband signal dealt with.
“They want rural poverty dealt with. They want rural housing to be affordable. They want fly-tipping dealt with.”
If the Government allows pressure groups to push it to devote parliamentary time to activities such as banning trail hunting, he predicts, people will ask: “What on earth are you talking about that for?”
Lord Herbert has simple advice for the PM: “Don't make the countryside your enemy and focus on what matters.”
He insists rural Britain is cherished by people who live far away from green fields: “It's one of the defining things of what it is to be British. It's our countryside. It's enjoyed not just by the people who live and work in the countryside, but by the millions who visit it.”
Now, as he prepares to bring together cross-party figures for the launch of the new campaign, this farmer’s grandson appeals for unity.
“I'm a great believer that everybody in the countryside needs to stand together,” he says. “We have found ourselves in a position where for the first time we are all under attack and we need to stand united against that.”
