The party conference season is fast approaching and the Countryside Alliance will once again be running a full programme of events. With a general election expected in around a year’s time, our focus this year will be on discussing and setting the big-picture rural agenda for all three main political parties as they consider the policies they will bring into their manifestos.
If you will be attending any of this year’s party conferences, do please come along.
Conservative Party Conference (Manchester, 01-04 October)
Future of the Countryside: the Conservative vision?
Speakers will include Greg Smith MP, the Member of Parliament for Buckingham, farmer and consultant Jonty Brunyee and Conservative Rural Forum Chair Lizzie Hacking.
Midland Hotel Lancaster (inside the secure zone)
Monday 02 Oct, 10:30-12:00
Free to attend with refreshments provided
An animal-free future?
Animal rights and vegan activists have been stepping up attacks on livestock farming in a wider effort to end all functional use of animals by humans. How viable is their prescription for an animal-free future? How should the countryside respond?
Speakers will include Farming Minister Mark Spencer MP, NFU President Minette Batters and Fay Jones MP, the Member of Parliament for Brecon and Radnorshire.
Midland Hotel Lancaster (inside the secure zone)
Tuesday 03 Oct, 10:30-12:00
Free to attend with refreshments provided
Labour Party Conference (Liverpool, 08-11 October)
Future of the Countryside: Labour’s vision?
Sarah Lee, Director of Policy for the Countryside Alliance, will chair a panel with speakers including Shadow Rural Affairs Minister Daniel Zeichner MP; Geraldine Scott, Political Reporter at The Times; Cllr Amanda Serjeant, the Labour Party’s lead on People and Places within the Local Government Association; and Ben Cooper, Senior Researcher at the Fabian Society.
Leonardo’s Hotel 4 (outside the secure zone)
Sunday 08 October, 14:00-15:00
Free to attend with refreshments provided
Liberal Democrat Party Conference (Bournemouth, 23-26 September)
Future of the Countryside: the Liberal Democrat vision?
As the next general election approaches, join Party figures and rural experts in a thoughtful discussion of what the Liberal Democrat vision should look like for the future of the British countryside.
Speakers will include rural affairs spokesman Tim Farron MP; by-election winner Helen Morgan MP; Uplands Alliance Chair Prof. Julia Aglionby; and leading farmer and Liberal Democrat Food and Farming Working Group member Stuart Roberts.
Highcliff Marriott Bryanston (outside the secure zone)
Saturday 23 September, 13:00-14:30
Free to attend with refreshments provided