THE fight for the country’s liberty and livelihood continues, 20 years after the march of that name, a march no one who attended will ever forget.
This was the message at a parliamentary reception hosted by Greg Smith MP and Lord Herbert of South Downs, Countryside Alliance chairman, held on 6 September to mark the anniversary, and “to remind ourselves of what that march was all about”.
Hundreds of thousands of people poured into London for the Liberty and Livelihood March in September 2002, many of whom had never visited the capital before.
“The Alliance was set up in the wake of that march, by brilliant people, simply to give the countryside a voice,” Lord Herbert said. “There was very strong feeling, particularly because of the hunting bill, but also because of many policies that country people never felt they had a voice in; that the views of those who live in the countryside were being dismissed. After hundreds of thousands of people had marched on the streets of Westminster, no one could say we were a small voice.”
Lord Herbert recalled the “extraordinary sense of solidarity”, and the presence of people from all walks of life, all political persuasions, “united by one simple thing; the love of the countryside and, fundamentally, freedom – in the end, it was a march for freedom.”
Lord Herbert added that “the battleground” has changed, as have the threats, but there are also those in both Houses of Parliament fighting on the countryside’s behalf, as well as the Alliance, which is “needed now as much as ever”.
Mr Smith said he is optimistic about the future; he said he asked the candidates for the Prime Minister’s job if they could “guarantee no silly buggers on the rural way of life”, and that Liz Truss’s answer was “the most robust”, adding: “It gave me great confidence that the countryside’s way of life is safe in our new Prime Minister’s hands.”
Countryside Alliance president Baroness Mallalieu said: “Anyone who was there on the march will never forget it.”
She also cited the Hyde Park rally five years before, citing one attendee who said, “I went in feeling small and came out feeling 10 feet tall because I realised we weren’t alone in our relatively isolated rural communities.”
“I remember Michael Howard and Michael Heseltine saying afterwards ‘For the first time, I know why we won the war,’” she said. “People from every background marching together for something we really cared about.”
She added that parliamentarians have since been “fighting a steady battle”, but that the effects of the Hunting Act are being seen.
“At the time, Labour had over 100 rural seats,” she said. “It’s now 17. It’s not possible to win a substantial majority without support from the rural communities.
“Full credit to those in parliament brave enough to stand up and put the case for our communities, and keeping our way of life going. I hope the new PM will be sympathetic, but also that there will be politicians brave enough to say, ‘We got this one wrong.’ Because they did.”
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