The Western Morning News produced a special 32-page supplement following last Sunday’s countryside march in London.

The March for Liberty & Livelihood supplement contained 16 articles from WMN reporters and a full page of comment from editor Barrie Williams. It was followed up the next day by a P1 Opinion piece and four inside pages on the march.

Barrie described the march as “the culmination of years of disregard, of ignorant regulation piled upon ignorant regulation imposed on farmers and farm labourers” and an “expression of frustration”.

He called for the Government to listen to the protestors and praised the way the march was conducted.

Under the headline “Now, surely, they must listen”, his Voice of the Westcountry article said: “That so many thousands of people should sacrifice a precious Sunday from the working year and travel, often at enormous cost and inconvenience, to the capital, simply and peaceably to demonstrate their antipathy to Government policy, is testament enough to the sincerity of their discontent.”

More than 407,000 people were thought to have taken to the streets of London for the march – and it is thought about 65-70,000 of these came from the Westcountry.

Barrie said: “The greatest protest march in British history, then, cannot be dismissed by even the most self-deceptive of politicians by reference to recorded numbers, nor can those who did march be denigrated as an “unrepresentative” minority.”

“The simple truth was that this was a massive uprising of country folk of all types and persuasions.

“Quietly, courteously and with dignity, the countryside expressed its discontent. Towns tend to do so with less restraint. Government is fortunate to have been given so gracious a warning. It must listen.”