Brexit: The Next Instalment

The ‘B’ word has dominated all talk of farming and the countryside for two years, but its true effect is still unclear

- Ross Murray

REMARKABLY, it was only three years ago that ‘Brexit’, the political soap opera of our times, wasn’t an everyday feature of our national vocabulary. It’s already ended the career of one Prime Minister and his successor is battling hard at the head of a weak, divided government. Only now, 18 months after the vote, and more than six months since serving notice to quit the EU, does it feel as if the political establishment is facing up to the decisions to be made about the future of the country, let alone that of the countryside.

For more than 43 years, our rural land use, access to markets, regulation, farm and environmental support and so much more have been shaped at supra-national level with neighbours. Brexit, therefore, requires a new way of thinking about the way the countryside works.

The party-conference season gave some pointers as to how the different political orthodoxies are wrestling with the issues. It certainly highlighted the tensions and inconsistencies that will play out in both Houses of Parliament. Early scuffles are evident as the EU Withdrawal Bill stutters through the Commons. These questions weigh heavily on the shoulders of the Conservatives, who called the referendum. So, too, does their sense of being the self-styled party of the countryside.