Protecting Our Countryside, Supporting Our Rural Communities
Richard Tice MP, Deputy Leader of Reform UK and Member of Parliament for Boston and Skegness
I see daily, how rural communities are being neglected. For too long, Conservative and Labour governments have prioritised box-ticking for distant bureaucrats over supporting the people who feed us, manage our land, and sustain the traditions of the countryside.
I speak about this not just as a politician but as someone who grew up in the countryside, where field sports were a major part of my family life. I have enjoyed them all over the years, and I understand how deeply they connect people to the land, to nature, and to one another. That personal experience gives me a genuine appreciation of the value country sports bring — not just in terms of recreation, but in sustaining jobs, wildlife management, and the rural way of life itself.
Rural Britain is the beating heart of our nation. It is our farmers, growers, gamekeepers, and country sportsmen and women who not only put food on our tables but also underpin a way of life that deserves respect and protection. Yet, time and again, these communities find themselves under attack, whether through heavy-handed regulation, misguided environmental schemes, or the relentless chipping away at hunting, shooting, and fishing.
Supporting Country Sports
Reform UK is unapologetic in its support for country sports. Hunting, shooting, and fishing are not merely leisure activities; they are vital to our rural economy, supporting thousands of jobs and ensuring proper wildlife and habitat management. They are traditions embedded in Britain’s heritage, and they must not be undermined by politicians who neither understand nor value them.
If recent global events have taught us anything, it is that food security matters. Britain is far too reliant on imports when we could, and should, be producing more of our own food. Reform UK is committed to increasing the farming budget so that our farmers are properly backed to grow more at home.
In recent weeks, I have spent time with farmers and agricultural businesses across my parliamentary
constituency of Boston and Skegness. I visited pea harvesters in Lincolnshire witnessing first-hand both the pride and the pressures within the sector, discussing the economic challenges facing farmers, from rising input costs to volatile markets. These conversations only reinforced what I have long believed: British farmers want to get on with the job of producing world-class food, but they are being undermined by poor government policy and endless bureaucracy.
We need to support them with fair farm gate prices, long-term contracts, and the confidence that they will not be undercut by cheap imports produced to lower standards. We should be producing more British beef, lamb, dairy, cereals, and vegetables, not importing food that we could grow ourselves.
Farmers constantly tell me how strangled they feel by red tape. From subsidy applications that require hours of paperwork, to restrictions on fertilisers that damage yields, to environmental schemes that too often create perverse outcomes, government regulation is stopping farmers from farming.
Common Sense Rural Policy
Reform UK would strip away these nonsensical burdens and restore common sense to rural policy. Farmers should be free to focus on their land, their livestock, and their crops, not spend half their working lives completing forms.
Alongside farming pressures, our countryside faces new threats from industrial-scale projects. Vast pylons and sprawling solar farms risk scarring our rural landscapes while doing little to address Britain’s long-term energy needs.
I have already served notice on over 100 applicants for large-scale solar farms across our regions. These schemes would not only blight our countryside views but also remove prime arable farmland from food production. Reform UK is clear: we will not allow Britain’s most productive farmland to be covered in glass and steel at the expense of food security and rural heritage. Common sense must prevail, and local communities must have the final say in protecting their landscapes.
Country sports and farming are central to a thriving rural economy, but the knock-on benefits stretch far wider. Rural pubs, tourism businesses, hospitality, and small suppliers all depend on a healthy countryside. The tens of thousands of livelihoods connected to this deserve to be protected.
This is why Reform UK is committed not just to supporting farming and country sports, but also to investing in rural infrastructure. That means better roads to connect communities, reliable broadband to allow businesses to compete, improved healthcare access, and stronger policing to tackle rural crime.
With that in mind, Reform UK believes in celebrating, not suffocating, the countryside. Our pledges are clear:
- Protect hunting, shooting, and fishing from hostile legislation.
- Increase the farming budget to boost domestic food production.
- Slash bureaucracy and red tape so farmers can farm, not form-fill.
- Secure fair prices for British farmers and defend them from unfair foreign imports.
- Invest in rural infrastructure to keep communities vibrant and sustainable.
For too long, rural Britain has been taken for granted. The countryside has been treated as a backdrop, politically useful during campaign season, but forgotten once votes have been cast. Reform UK offers something different.
We understand the value of rural life. We respect the contribution of those who rise before dawn to tend livestock, those who harvest the crops that feed us, and those who sustain the countryside through country sports and land management. These are not relics of the past, they are essential to our future.
Rural Britain is central to our identity, our economy, and our culture. Reform UK will stand shoulder to shoulder with those who nurture it, ensuring they have the freedom, the support, and the respect they deserve.
The message is simple: if you value your countryside, your rural economy, and your traditions, then Reform UK is the party that values them too.
