WORCESTERSHIRE'S night sky was aglow last night as beacons and fireworks marked the official start of the Countryside Alliance's Liberty & Livelihood campaign.

Fifty beacons were set alight across the county, part of a national chain announcing the run-up to a massive protest march in London next Sunday, when the countryside will bring its grievances to the streets of the capital.

One of the largest combustible piles was at Whittington, just outside Worcester, where Mid-Worcestershire MP Peter Luff applied the blazing torch just after 7.30pm.

More than 300 people gathered to hear him say, "These fires burn as a warning, not of a foreign invader, but of the threat that comes from our very own government.

"We will burn the incompetence of a government that has stood idly by and watched our farmers go to the wall.

"We will burn the deceit of the party spin doctors who care nothing for the countryside and we will burn the £1.1m bribery of the Labour Party by the animal rights movement."

Mr Luff has been a leading proponent of the Middle Way Group, which seeks compromise on the hunting issue.

He added: "We will burn the lies of a Prime Minister who has used hunting, in fact the whole of the countryside, as a political football and we will burn the hatred of a vociferous minority who do not care for animals, but hate people.

"And finally, we will burn prejudice, the prejudice of a government that thinly disguises its hatred of the countryside and the people who live and work there."

Alec Mackie, spokesman for Hereford and Worcester Fire Brigade, said it had been notified in advance by the Countryside Alliance of the beacon locations, but was duty bound to follow-up reports of fires from members of the public just in case.

The brigade received 16 "false alarm" calls last night connected with the beacon burnings.