Prime Minister Tony Blair, under fire from the countryside lobby over the farming crisis, has called for an end to the "politics of division".

Mr Blair, speaking at The Eden Centre in Cornwall during a tour of south west England, said it was wrong for critics to claim the government was putting town before country.

The prime minister, who has been criticised for failing to understand the depth of the crisis in the countryside, said he made decisions simply on the basis of the national interest.

Mr Blair said: "There are those on the right who use the town-and-country argument and there are those on the left who use the North-South divide, and then there are the (Scottish and Welsh) nationalists."

He called for "one Britain, with a central purpose and vision".

But Mr Blair offered little in terms of concrete proposals for relieving pressure on Britain's farmers, struggling because of the strong pound and collapsed foreign markets.

He also disappointed some in the rural lobby when he confirmed that the government will move ahead with plans to pay benefits direct into bank accounts - a move which may undermine the future of some country post offices.

He said: "Modernisation of the social security system must go on.

Cash machine boost

"The challenge for the local post offices is to be more entrepreneurial."

But in a move designed to boost the future of the village post office Mr Blair said up to 3,000 cash machines will be installed across the UK, after a deal signed with several major banks.

Four hundred of the new cash machines should be in place by the summer.

Mr Blair told farmers there must be a "long-term strategy" for tackling the crisis in the countryside.

He said farmers must be able to stand on their own two feet without excessive government help.

"The farmers that I have met do not want to live on a year-by-year subsidy from the government," said Mr Blair.

'Short-term crisis'

He said there needed to be a long-term strategy to tackle the problems facing British agriculture.

But Mr Blair said: "I know the long-term is not a solution to the short-term."

He added: "Yes we have to get through the short-term crisis but we have to develop a long-term strategy."