Farmers have warned that political parties will pay a high price at the polls if they ignore rural voters.

Ben Gill, the president of the National Farmers Union, on Tuesday unveiled a campaign aimed at putting countryside issues at the top of the general election agenda.

The union wants candidates in the Westminster election to explain what they will do to stop the destruction of the rural economy and country life. Key issues include action on red tape and dropping the controversial climate change levy.Unveiling the NFU's general election challenge at their annual AGM in London, Gill said: "There has never been a more crucial time to influence politicians. While there are encouraging signs that the agricultural recession may have bottomed out, the industry remains in an extremely fragile state. For many farmers and growers this will be the most important general election of their lives."

A spokesman for the Countryside Alliance told epxNews that if the political parties were to issue pledge cards promising to protect the rural economy there were six questions they wanted answered.

"We'd like to know what the parties would do to achieve more equitable services and taxes between urban and rural areas. We would like to know how they will deal with the threat to field sports and what they would do for farmers. They should be able to outline how they would tackle rural crime and violence. Candidates should also be able to tell people what they would do to improve rural transport and how they would save rural post offices," the spokesman said.

However, inner city Labour MPs are calling on the government to ensure that they do not neglect urban problems. Diane Abbot, the Labour MP for Stoke Newington and Hackney North, admitted rural Britain was facing tough times but said things remain tougher in Britain's urban areas. "I very much welcome the fact that countryside pressure groups are drawing attention to these problems but the fact remains that the worst problems remain in the inner cities," she said.