Conservatives, Farming and Rural Constituencies

The Conservative Party has traditionally depended on their loyal rural voting block to dominate British politics for the last century. This has for the most part been a reciprocal arrangement with British farmers receiving some of the highest subsidies to keep food prices among the lowest globally. Even pre-Brexit, Conservative MEPs were able to prioritise the interests of British farmers in the Common Agricultural Policy over their European counterparts.

However the recent global shocks to fertiliser prices and a lack of clear direction as to the form the replacement to the CAP will take post-Brexit has made it increasingly difficult for many farmers to plan ahead. These recent pressures in conjunction with the fact that over a third of farms couldn’t function without unpaid family labour goes to show that more interest should be taken by policy makers.

The Green Party’s recent victory in Mid-Suffolk, serves as evidence that the rural conservative vote cannot be taken for granted. Passionate campaigning by local candidates who have lived, worked and raised family in their council will always have the advantage against an outsider ‘gifted’ a safe seat. The dismissal of a constituency’s concerns on account of it being a rural ‘safe’ seat will forever be a dangerous decision.

It was after all, a rural Somerset constituency which had also been blue since its formation, that Paddy Ashdown was able to win. It was from this that he was able to launch his political career and establish the Liberal Democrats as major political player.

It does however stand to be seen whether this switch to The Greens in a local election will be the start of a political shift. As many commentators have noted, this may have been a short term ‘protest vote’ against the government. Nevertheless, it should not be dismissed.

The trend at current seems particularly unlikely considering the Green’s relatively poor record with farming communities from unpopular rewilding schemes, which risk British food security, to their continued support of vegan alternatives at the expense of dairy farmers.

However, one party’s poor record to win farming votes does not make the loss of the rural vote altogether impossible.

In 2019, discontent over the disrespect for farming communities in media and political discourse in The Netherlands, resulted in mass farmer led protests across the country. This has culminated in the formation of a farmer led centre-right political party, the BoerBurgerBeweging. Whilst this is unlikely to take off in the UK under the current political climate, it serves as testament to the importance of supporting farming communities in Britain.

The commentary around the run up to the leadership contest last summer, questioned how Rishi Sunak, a city boy and outsider to the area, was able to win over in his words ‘one of the most rural constituencies in our country’.

It seems however that his City background allowed him to talk with his farming constituents with a genuine understanding of farms as the complex multi-billion pound industry they are. As it turns out, this is more effective than the overused photoshoot of a nondescript MP hopeful standing in brand new Wellington boots near to a bit of mud in an attempt to win rural votes.

If the Conservatives are to continue to hold their loyal rural vote, these voices must be listened to, and the Farm to Fork Summit introduced by Sunak will hopefully be the start of including agricultural voices in policy making.

This article was written by one of our Committee Members.

Image Credit, N Chadwick under Creative Commons License