Which party will get—or should get—the rural vote in next month’s election? Country Life examines and compares five manifestos.
Conservatives
Life in the countryside
- Invest £100 billion in infrastructure, improving roads and railway connections in the South-West, North and East Anglia
- Rail fares frozen in real terms until 2020
- No Inheritance Tax on properties up to £1 million
- More local controls on planning
- Councils to allocate land to locals under Right to Build
- Plant 11 million new trees in public forests
- Secure 3,000 rural post offices; set up Pub Loan Fund
- Superfast broadband to 95% of UK by 2017
- Free Wi-Fi for libraries; free maps of open spaces
Green Britain
- Put £3 billion from CAP into enhancing countryside
- Commit £1 billion to carbon capture and storage
- 1,400 flood-defence schemes to protect 300,000 homes
- Sovereign Wealth Fund to develop shale gas in North
- End public subsidies on onshore wind farms; allow locals final say on planning applications
- Spend £300 million mitigating damage—such as light pollution—from new roads and make good biodiversity losses from HS2
Boosts for small businesses
- Major review of business rates, including for local newspapers
- Tackle aggressive, prohibitive parking enforcement
- Set higher targets for Visit Britain so more tourists leave London for other areas
Wildlife
- ‘Blue Belt’ to protect marine habitats
- Free vote on hunting
- Extend Natural Capital Committee’s contract and set 25-year plan
Farming
- Treble apprenticeships with target of three million places
- 25-year plan to grow, buy and sell more British food
- 25-year strategy to eradicate bovine TB
- Streamline farm inspections through one task force
- Country of origin labelling in Europe, especially dairy
- Science-led approach to GM crops and pesticides
Labour
Life in the countryside
- Devolve transport powers—bus routes and fares to be decided locally
- Freeze rail fares in 2016 to aid commuters
- ‘Mansion tax’ on properties worth more than £2 million
- Communites to have more powers on new housing
- Pass English Devolution Act to give powers to shires
- Keep forests in public ownership
- Improve protection of dogs and cats
Green Britain
- Create one million high-tech Green jobs by 2025
- Set legal target for decarbonising electricity by 2030
- Insulate five million homes over 10 years
- Strengthen Green Investment Bank through borrowing
- Prioritise flood prevention; introduce climate-change adaption plan
- Winter fuel payments early to pensioners on off-grid energy
- Bring off-grid energy under the regulator
Boosts for small businesses
- Create British Investment Bank with regional network
- Increase minimum wage to £8; ban zero-hour contracts
- Freeze business rates and energy bills for small rural enterprises
Wildlife
- Deal with wildlife crime associated with shooting
- Defend the hunting ban
- Support the Natural Capital Committee to improve habitat and green spaces
Farming
- Create Food, Farm and Fisheries sector to create jobs and apprenticeships and promote British foods
- End the badger culls
Liberal Democrats
Life in the countryside
- Bus fares to be decided locally
- £10 a head public expenditure on cycling
- Intercity cycle way along HS2 route
- National resilience plan to adapt to global warming
- New National Nature Parks to protect one million acres
- Drive recycling up to 70%
- New, non-political body to manage national forests
- Plant a tree for every child born
- Complete coastal path; enhance Right to Roam
- Fund to save post offices, GPs and libraries
Green Britain
- Pass Nature Act to set natural capital targets
- Significantly increase accessible green space
- Review governance of flood risk and drainage
- Research back-to-nature flood prevention
- Help land managers adapt to climate change
- Low-emission zones in towns
- Promote and research low-emission vehicles
- End coal; promote wind farms, allow nuclear power
Boosts for small businesses
- More than two million new apprenticeships
- Make medium and small enterprises the priority for business tax cuts
- Promote Green products and sustainable design
Wildlife
- Tackle wildlife crime with increased enforcement
- Legal protection for bumblebee nests
- Designate marine protection areas by 2020
- Improve enforcement of EU Directives on birds
Farming
- Shift CAP payments to active farmer, not landowner
- Groceries Code Adjudicator to ensure fair dairy prices
- Work at EU level on clear labelling of meat and dairy
- Develop Animal Disease Strategy; invest in bovine TB vaccines
- Support badger cull only if effective, humane and safe
- Review use of cages, crates and antibiotics
UKIP
Life in the countryside
- Reopen Manston Airport, Kent
- Free parking at hospitals
- Scrap HS2; end road tolls
- Repeal National Planning Policy
- Speed cameras as deterrents, not fundraisers
- Protect Green Belt
- Minister for Heritage and Tourism
- Animal cruelty punished more
- Save the Pub campaign
Green Britain
- Repeal Climate Change Act
- Scrap Green taxes and leave EU Emissions Trading System to reduce fuel bills
- No new subsidies for wind or solar farms; maintain those for hydro
- Start fracking; invest in coal
Boosts for small businesses
- Change Small Business Rate Relief
- No VAT on listed building repairs
- 30 minutes’ free parking in town centres
Wildlife
- End slaughter of dolphins by banning pair-trawler bass fishing
- Vociferously oppose EU threats to sea angling
Farming
- Start UK Single Farm Payment
- No crop rotation restrictions
- Add rare-breed saving to stewardship schemes; end EID for sheep
- Fairer practices for dairy sector
- Mandatory CCTV in abattoirs
- Free vote on GM cultivation
Green Party
Life in the countryside
- Railways under public ownership
- End night flying; no new runways
- Create Forests Protection Bill
- Introduce Land Value Tax
- Repeal National Planning Policy
- Speed limits of 20mph in villages
- Review racing; ban the whip
- Ban electric collars on dogs
- Reduce VAT on home renovation
- Planners to map ecology networks
Green Britain
- Invest £85 billion in renewable energy, flood defences and insulation
- Extra £1 billion on flood defences
- Invest in creation of one million jobs
- Cheaper public transport; encourage cycling and walking
- Land-management strategy for capturing carbon, such as peatlands
- End coal and nuclear; ban fracking
Boosts for small businesses
- Reduce employers’ National Insurance contribution
- Encourage small, local firms
Wildlife
- Make bees a priority species
- Ban shooting, especially grouse
- Ban snares
- Increase protected land
Farming
- Reform agri-environment schemes to include water management
- Eat less and better meat
- Ban badger cull, foie gras, cloning
- Dramatically reduce pesticide use
- Mandatory CCTV in abattoirs
- Moratorium on GM products
How to survive the election
Nigel Farndale gets out the rosettes, hones his opinions and prepares the mustard.
