Anyone looking at Great Britain's electoral map would see immediately that rural Britain is an almost unbroken swath of blue, the color of Britain's Conservative Party. This alliance was further cemented during the Labour government of Tony Blair, when the Labour majority passed a bill outlawing foxhunting.
Now, for a change, rural Britain is steaming at the Conservatives and even the shade of Robin Hood may soon make a resentful appearance. The background to this furor is the cash crunch faced by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.
While David Cameron has already warned households that this will be a difficult year, the government is still trying to scrape up some cash, via taxation, budget cuts and also by privatization. As an example of the latter, one of the government assets to be put on the block is 15% of the Forestry Commission's 500,000 acres. Included in the commission's assets are the picturesque forests of the Lake District, the Forest of Dean and the renowned Sherwood Forest.
Those who have chosen the rural life welcome the proximity to forests and open spaces. If the sale goes through, they can expect to see crass developers destroying the forested areas for the purpose of building weekend chalets for the well-to-do.
Labour is already gloating, claiming that this proposal could garner as much hostility as Margaret Thatcher's hated poll tax that accelerated her political demise. A quarter of a million people have already signed an online petition against the proposal; protest marches are being held through the forests and even city slicker Ed Miliband Labour's new leader has become involved in the effort. Labor has arranged for a debate on the proposal tomorrow in the expectation, justified by their public statements, that coalition Members of Parliament representing the forested areas will revolt against the government.
The government has tried to spin the proposal as being consonant with David Cameron's policy of getting society involved to take some of the load off an overburdened government. Accordingly, it will not be developers motivated purely by selfish and pecuniary interests who will be sold parts of the forests, but civil society bodies and charitable groups will be given the chance "to manage or own forests which are deemed to be heritage on community sites."
Rural Britain remains unconvinced.