EVEN if the Conservatives are returned to power at the next general election, it may not necessarily be good news for the countryside.

The stark warning came on the opening day of the Three Counties Show from the vice president of the Country Landowners and Business Association, William Worsley.

"Politics today is a metropolitan society," he said.

"Instead of the Islington set we would have the Notting Hill set. There is certainly no guarantee the Conservatives would change things to the way we want.

"All the talk coming from the Tory party so far concerning the countryside has been about the environment.There has been no reference to jobs or the rural economy. As representatives of the countryside, we have quite a job to do with them to get across our points of view."

Mr Worsley, who farms in Yorkshire, was addressing the CLA's Big Breakfast at the show.

He maintained that incoming premier Gordon Brown "has shown no interest whatsoever in the rural agenda" and added: "I'm not sure he has ever been on a farm. It is going to be a challenge to argue our case with him. He is a meddler and a controller."

However, Mr Worsley was kinder about the current Defra minister David Milliband.

He said: "Although he too is from a metropolitan background, he has done his best to understand the rural agenda. He is very engaged with his job, but he is a man on the rise and may want a bigger empire."

Mr Worsley believed a "sensible and appropriate planning policy" was the key to rural survival.

"Small-scale development must be allowed in villages to keep young people there and ensure the rural economy develops," he said.

"There must also be freedom to make a profit from farming and rural enterprises, because then those profits can be ploughed back into the countryside. The belief persists that it is OK to make a profit if you are Tesco, but not if you are a farmer."