What happens next following the general election?

Thanks to your actions in the Alliance’s e-lobby campaign, more than 50,000 emails were sent to prospective MPs in 556 constituencies ahead of the general election. This effective digital lobbying tool, which sent a letter directly to candidates of all parties from those living in their constituency, asked each respective candidate to tackle the blight of rural crime, recognise the role of wildlife management and the value of trail hunting, and champion British farmers and producers. Thank you to everybody who supported this campaign and to those who have since passed on feedback from the candidates.

The Alliance was also campaigning hard on your behalf during the general election period and took action alongside you. We successfully lobbied 3,461 candidates sharing with them our Rural Charter, held 10 regional briefings on the future of trail hunting, engaged directly with over 100 Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates in target rural seats, and reached over 20 million people via digital media.

The Alliance is continuing to take action now that there is a new government in office. We have written to all of the MPs and begun meeting with those who are newly elected. Next, we will be writing to members who live in our target rural constituencies, urging them to lobby their new MPs to meet the Countryside Alliance to discuss key rural issues. Our Chairman, Lord Herbert of South Downs, has already written about how rural people can make their voices heard to the many new Labour MPs and made the case that in part, the future of rural activities lies in our own hands saying “We must give no excuse for precipitate legislative action, and this means both upholding the highest standards of conduct and addressing areas of legitimate public concern, even when this is challenging to traditional ways of doing things. We must be able to demonstrate that rural activities are properly conducted, well-regulated and need no attention from government.” So we urge anyone who is asked to contact their MP to please do so and for everyone else to listen to Lord Herbert’s words.

If you are not already a member please do join us so that together we can fight to protect your way of life, because together, we will make a difference.