The Countryside Alliance finished its tour of this year's party conferences with two packed out events at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham.

On Sunday (4 October), our joint drinks reception with the Conservative Rural Forum proved to be one of the most popular events of the evening, with queues stretching out from the reception room well into the foyer outside. We were delighted to welcome as a speaker the Rt Hon Victoria Atkins MP, Shadow Secretary of State for DEFRA, who promised strong actions from the Conservatives on rural affairs, a prelude to her announcement made the next morning (further details below). We were joined by a large number of Conservative MPs, Peers, representatives of the media and other rural organisations, as well as Conservative Party and Countryside Alliance members.

The next morning (5 October), we held our panel event, "Can the Conservatives win again in the countryside?", where we were thrilled to have two Shadow Secretaries of State, the Rt Hon Victoria Atkins MP (DEFRA) and Katie Lam MP (MHCLG), as speakers, alongside Robbie Moore MP (Shadow Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), Aaron Newbury from the Daily Express and our Chief Executive, Tim Bonner.

Discussion examined how the Conservatives could win back support in the countryside after its heavy losses at the 2024 General Election. A major theme was the need for practical policies, rather than just broad promises, should the party wish to rebuild trust with rural communities, where many people have felt let down and overlooked by successive governments including the previous Conservative administrations.

Key topics covered included the role of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), reform of Natural England and other arm’s-length bodies, farming profitability, food security, rural infrastructure, planning and housing, renewable energy developments, local decision-making and country sports.

Robbie Moore argued that DEFRA should operate as an economic growth department enabling farming, food production and rural businesses to develop. Suggested restructuring of Natural England, the Environment Agency and DEFRA came ahead of Victoria Atkins' announcement, later that morning, that the Conservatives would abolish both the Environment Agency and Natural England, with the bodies responsibilities being brought directly into DEFRA instead.

Katie Lam pointed out how rural communities have been disproportionately affected by hikes to National Insurance and the deterioration of rural infrastructure, and spoke of the need for the countryside to be seen as somewhere where people live and work. She also supported stronger protections for prime agricultural land and stated her doubts about large scale energy infrastructure, such as solar farms, being constructed on it. This echoed similar concerns voiced by Victoria Atkins, who announced that she had introduced a Private Member's Bill to prevent large solar developments from being placed on prime agricultural land.

Tim Bonner concluded by pointing out that the Conservatives, the last time they were in opposition, had similarly emphasised rural issues but had become much more focused on urban and suburban areas once in office, and raised the question of how the Conservatives would ensure that rural affairs remained as prominent if they came into government once again. As Aaron Newbury stated, whichever party governs next will need to begin rebuilding rural trust immediately, rather than simply relying on short-term promises ahead of an election.

Our series of events at this year's party conferences is now over, and we are incredibly grateful to not only all our speakers, but also to all our members and supporters who have made it possible for us to run these events. They are essential to our mission in bringing the voice of the countryside to the highest levels of power.