The Government is currently legislating to allow access to over 4.5 million acres of open, uncultivated countryside which is currently out of bounds. This implements an historic pledge to give people the right, in law, to walk on the land of their birth. There are many good reasons why people, quite legitimately, should be kept off particular areas of land - but the mere fact of ownership is not one of them. This is the key point that distinguishes the Conservative position from Labour's. The land in question may be being used by breeding birds. Or it may be a very delicate habitat. Or archeological treasures may need to be protected.

The new rights will come with new responsibilities to look after and care for the land. That is as it should be.

The photo shows me (far right of photo) speaking to thousands of ramblers on the estate of the Earl of Macclesfield in the Shireburn Hills in Oxfordshire in March 1999 in the huge campaign to secure the right to roam. The ramblers are shown on the footpath, stretching away into the distance. The Earl had forbidden the ramblers to walk on the adjacent uncultivated land.