Letters | 7 November 2013

Counting on the country

Sir: I spent many hours helping to canvas for local Conservative candidates before the last two elections (‘The countryside revolts’, 2 November). I was motivated to do so because of the Labour government’s prejudice against the rural community. The Conservative party offered a chance to redress this prejudice through repealing or amending legislation on small employers, hunting, communication, transport, fuel, immigration and the EU. But progress on these issues has been negligible.

We see no action on the Hunting Act, and no action to stop the harassment of country people by vigilante pressure groups, despite managing a more robust reaction to anti-fracking campaigners. Huge effort has been lavished on promoting HS2, which will starve infrastructure spending in many rural areas. I cannot see that the issues have been addressed to any meaningful effect, with the exception of the economy. I could not therefore encourage others to vote Conservative at the next election.