At this week’s Labour Party Conference, taking place in Liverpool, shadow environment secretary Mary Creagh is expected to tell her party members that, following a spate of PR disasters including planning reforms, forest sell-offs and plans for a badger cull on which scientific and popular opinion remains staunchly divided, the government is vulnerable on countryside issues.

As part of what The Guardian speculated will be an attempt to reinvent itself as the 'party of the countryside' the Labour party’s campaign to save the Agricultrual Wages Board is set to take centre stage. image expired

The 'Back the Apple' campaign was launched in July with the aim of protecting the Agricultural Wages Board and raising awareness of the plight of over 150,000 agricultural workers who would be affected by its closure. As part of the campaign Labour has commissioned a celebrated producer to create an animated promotional video. The video features Tony Robinson as the voice of the apple.

The party, aware of the impact social media can have in the wake of the attempted forestry sell-offs, which mobilised thousands to act through online campaigns such as 38 Degrees’ petition and social networking sites, has started a viral campaign, based around its own website: www.backtheapple.com  

While the Tories say that the national minimum wage now renders the Agricultural Wages Board obsolete, opponents to the closure maintain the board, which sets the pay rates, holidays, sick pay entitlements and overtime premiums for the thousands of agricultural workers in England and Wales, is essential in ensuring workers are not abused. The AWB also covers weekend pay rates for minors, who are not covered by minimum wage regulation.

The Labour Party believes cuts to rural services including post office closures, failure to roll out rural broadband as promised and reductions in rural bus services have also weakened the Tories’ claims to represent the countryside. The party is also opposing the proposed closure of the Commission for Rural Communities, a victim of the Coalition’s bonfire of the quangos.

Mary Creagh reportedly said at today’s conference, "Labour is the party of the countryside. The first time I said that in Parliament, the Tories laughed. They’re not laughing now." However, Labour may still have some ground to cover, as a recent Yougov poll revealed rural occupants do not have faith in any of the major political parties; the majority of the 2,724 rural respondents polled this month stated that none of the parties reflected their interests.  

Unite joins ‘Back the Apple’

Trade union Unite has also joined the campaign to resist the AWB closure. As part of the campaign, the union said it plans to hand out hundreds of apples to delegates at the Labour Party conference today.

Labour and Unite both believe that, should the government’s plans to abolish the board go ahead, agricultural workers’ pay and working conditions will worsen as their representation diminishes. Both groups have said the Tory-led coalition is "completely out of touch with the countryside."

Recent surveys show the cost of living in rural parts of the country is higher than in urban areas, on top of which countryside dwellers have to cope with drastically reduced services. Unite Officer Cath Speight said, "Our members are struggling to survive in the face of rising costs and higher food prices and our main concern is that if the Agricultural Wages Board is abolished, they will see their pay-packets diminish and will only increase their problems. We must not allow this to happen."