A new YouGov MRP poll published this morning (24 September), shows that Labour would lose 170 seats if there were a General Election tomorrow and that 79 of those constituencies are rural. The importance of Andy Burnham re-engaging with the countryside could not be more obvious, especially as 28% of rural voters in a recent ORB poll said they would be more likely to vote Labour if he does.

There is not much rural about Liverpool’s docklands, but this poll makes the Alliance’s attendance at the Labour Party conference there this weekend all the more relevant. We will be taking the Campaign for the Countryside to Labour delegates and delivering the simple message that Andy Burnham and his new administration need to reset the party’s relationship with the countryside if it wants to hold rural seats and maintain its majority.

The need for this reset was only underlined by yesterday’s farcical Sustainable Farming Initiative (SFI) window which saw the funding pot emptied in just six hours and thousands of farmers left without payments for looking after nature, soil and other public goods under the scheme. Funding was allocated on a first come, first served basis and, despite warnings from farming organisations, the pot was wholly insufficient to meet farmers’ demands.

This only supports the narrative that the government does not understand or care about rural issues. Whilst some of the policies Labour has promoted over the last two years are malicious - such as the proposed ban on trail hunting and restricting shotgun ownership - the majority seem to be rooted in ignorance and misunderstanding. There is a simple answer to both categories. Firstly, to drop the culture war politics which only cause division and distraction from the issues which voters really care about. Secondly, to engage with people in the countryside and consider the impact of policies on rural people, not just on those in cities and towns.

Helpfully, for a Prime Minister haunted by his fiscal inheritance, neither of these has a significant price tag. The countryside is just asking for a fair opportunity to deliver the growth that Andy Burnham has promised in every postcode. It would only be sensible politics to deliver that.

We will be hearing from a number of rural Labour MPs at our conference event and taking the temperature across rural receptions and fringe meetings. The reaction to David Blunkett’s speech at the Campaign for the Countryside launch has been entirely positive and other Labour figures, including ex-Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner, have backed up his call for a fresh approach to rural issues.

You can support the campaign for a rural reset by emailing Andy Burnham. If you have already taken part, please share the link: www.ruralreset.org.