THE Bishop of Hereford has fired a broadside at the Government for ignoring the countryside.

John Oliver told the Oxford Union conference that, despite appearing to make the right noises, little was being done by the Prime Minister and his ministers.

Speaking in a debate, supported by television cook, Clarissa Dickson-Wright, the bishop claimed the Government listened only to the urban majority who had little understanding of the needs of the countryside and failed to recognise the greater cost in delivering services to rural areas.

"The Government use window dressing like the Countryside Agency to give the impression they are doing something," he said after the debate.

"But the leader of that agency is writing about the crisis in the countryside on the front of their latest publication!"

Bishop Oliver did not just blame the Government. He criticised the supermarkets for screwing farmers into selling stock and crops at unfair and unrealistic prices. He accused the animal rights lobby of not appreciating animal husbandry as practised in the countryside, stealing headlines that implied all farming was cruel. The debate was won by a two-to-one majority.