SHADOW Agriculture Minister Tim Yeo takes the battle for the rural vote to Tony Blair's doorstep this morning when he meets farmers and a village postmaster in the heart of the Prime Minister's Sedgefield constituency.

His visit comes two days after the Government countered a growing sense of crisis in the countryside with a rural White Paper pledging a multi-million pound lifeline to struggling sections of the community.

Mr Yeo accused Labour of ignoring the root cause of the rural revolt.

He said last night: "Since Labour came to power, farming industry bankruptcies have risen by 18 per cent, country pubs are closing at the rate of six a week and post offices are shutting at the rate of two a week.

"Tuesday's Rural White Paper should have got to grips with these problems.

"Instead, it simply proposed a series of superficial ideas, such as putting computer terminals in Post Offices.

At Graham Smith's farm, near Sedgefield, Mr Yeo will hear the views of all sections of the stricken farming community.

Mr Smith, outgoing chairman of the National Farmers' Union North Riding and Durham branch, said: "Our main problem is the weakness of the Euro against the pound. We need a level playing field in Europe to get us back to a reasonable return."

Sadberge postmaster Arthur Sanders faces a 50 per cent cut in basic pay when benefit payments switch from post offices to banks.

A new sub-postmistress who is bucking the trend is garage owner Julia Burrup, who has opened up a counter in her service station at Helmington Row, near Crook, because she didn't want the village to lose the service.

She said: "It is especially important for pensioners because it helps them keep their independence.