Locals join MP on countryside march

They joined over 400,000 people on the Liberty and Livelihood march to speak out against a government they feel is not listening to them on rural issues.

Most joined the Livelihood march which started at Blackfriars, and travelled down the Embankment before ending at the Houses of Parliament.

Boos and whistles rang out when the marchers passed the government's Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. This was contrasted by silence when the march passed the Cenotaph, in respect of the British war dead.

When the protesters arrived at the end of the march, there was a digital board with the number of people who had completed the course on it. Because of the sheer weight of numbers the three-mile march took almost two hours to complete.

Issues raised on the march were the government's handling of the BSE and foot and mouth crises, the proposed ban to hunting with dogs and the lack of rural services.

Penny Thomas, 55, a teacher from Wickham Avenue, said she would take up hunting and break the law if hunting with dogs was banned. She said: "Hunting helps with the training of young horses. If this government decides to ban hunting they will turn me into a criminal. That's the situation we are faced with."

Wendy Gubby, 55, a housewife from Warwick Road, said: "The hunt kennels provide an important service for the disposal of horse carcasses.

"I support the farmers who are, after all, the stewards of the land."

Lucy Green, 32, of Little Twitten, Little Common, rides in the countryside, although she doesn't hunt.

She believes that hunting is crucial to the future vitality of rural areas.

She said: "If they ban hunting it will have repercussions right across the board. I'm demonstrating against being told what I can and can't do."

A placard bearing the words: "I don't fish and I do not hunt but I will go to jail for your right to do so," summed up the Liberty and Livelihood March for MP Greg Barker.

The Bexhill and Battle MP said the event was a "tremendous shout from the countryside".