Countryside Alliance launches campaign urging government to reset its relationship with the countryside after 27 damaging policies targeting rural Britain

• A shocking 27 damaging policies have been imposed on rural communities since 2024 — from the family farm tax and National Insurance rises, to affordability checks on horse racing, plans to ban trail hunting and restrict game shooting.
• The Countryside Alliance is convening senior politicians, rural businesses, and rural communities on September 14 to offer the government a chance for a genuine reset with rural Britain.
• The launch of the campaign is marked by the release of a new video showing livestock, farmers, pheasants, hounds and racehorses taking over10 Downing Street.

(September 4, 2026) The Countryside Alliance is set to launch a new ‘Campaign for the Countryside’, calling on the government to reset its relationship with rural Britain.

It comes as new analysis from the rural campaigning organisation reveals that in just two years, the government has announced or imposed 27 policies that are harmful to the countryside and rural communities.

The campaign will be officially launched at an event in Westminster on September 14. It will see senior politicians and an invited audience of people and organisations from across rural Britain, including farming, rural businesses, horseracing, greyhound racing, shooting, hunting and angling, come together to offer the government a chance for a genuine reset with rural Britain.

Former NFU President and crossbench peer, Minette Batters, is among the headline speakers.

Millions of people love and value the British countryside. It contributes more than £300bn a year to the economy, supports more than 4 million jobs, delivers food security for the nation, and is where millions come to walk, ride, hunt, race, and fish every year.

But rural Britain has had a large number of damaging policies imposed on it over the last two years, including the Family Farm Tax, which saw farmers protest on the streets of Westminster, National Insurance rises (which disproportionately affected rural businesses), affordability checks on betting on horse and greyhound racing, which will cost the industries hundreds of millions of pounds, huge increases to firearms licensing fees, and plans to ban trail hunting and restrict game shooting.

Andy Burnham has said that he is determined to generate good growth in every postcode in the UK. One in four postcodes in Britain are rural, so the Countryside Alliance is calling on him to seize this opportunity for his new government to reset its relationship with rural communities and work with them to generate growth across the country.

The launch of the campaign is also marked by the release of a new video showing livestock, farmers, pheasants, hounds and racehorses taking over 10 Downing Street.

Tim Bonner, Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance, said:

"The timing of this campaign and event is 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.

“Andy Burnham has talked about growth in every postcode and the need to listen to all parts of the country. The countryside is ready to play its part. 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. We are asking the government to work with rural communities, not against them. Now is the time for a rural reset.”