I have long believed that the cruel blood sport of fox hunting has no place in our country and should be consigned to the history books.  I am committed to enhancing and strengthening the Hunting Act, including closing loopholes that allow for the illegal hunting of foxes, deer and hares.   

I also want to see tough action taken against those who continue to conduct illegal fox hunts.  I believe that enforcement of the existing law remains difficult until it is strengthened and we stop trail hunting from being used as a cover for illegal hunting. 

Back in September 2021, the case of R v Mark Hankinson was concluded.  Mr. Hankinson, the director of the Masters of Foxhounds Association, was charged and found guilty of ‘encouraging the commission of the offence of hunting a wild mammal with a dog’ in webinars that he held with huntsmen.  

During the trial, the Judge said that ‘speaker after speaker was recognising illegal hunting would be going on’ during the webinars in which over half of the hunts registered with the Masters of Foxhounds Association were encouraged to use ‘the mirage of trail laying to act as cover for old fashioned illegal hunting’.  There can be no doubt that, as the judge said, trail hunting is ‘a sham and a smokescreen’.   

This case, and the public outcry that it sparked, prompted Forestry England, Natural Resources Wales and, the National Trust to suspend trail hunting on their land.  However, the UK Government did not follow suit and still allows trail hunting on Ministry of Defence land.   

In November 2021, when questioned directly about this, the then Secretary of State for Defence, Ben Wallace, said: 

‘Trail and drag hunting on the Defence estate remain legal activities providing they are carried out within the provisions of the Hunting Act 2004. A range of people and activities are allowed access to the MOD estate subject to appropriate controls.’   

Since then, Ministers have been repeatedly asked to ban trail hunting on government land; including in November 2023. 

Rebecca Pow, the Minister for Nature, responded on this occasion with the following: 

‘Since the introduction of the Act, many hunt organisations across the country have worked hard to adapt their activities towards trail hunting, which is intended to retain important traditions as part of the fabric of rural life without harming wildlife. The Government takes wildlife crime seriously. In 2022, Defra more than doubled its funding of the National Wildlife Crime Unit from a total of £495,000 over the three previous years to £1.2 million for the three-year period of 2022-25. The Government will not amend the Hunting Act.’ 

This more recent response is worse than previous ones because Ms. Pow defends trail hunting as it retains ‘important traditions as part of the fabric of rural life without harming wildlife’, despite the judge in the R v Mark Hankinson case finding that the exact opposite was true; trail hunting is a ‘smokescreen’ which allows wildlife to be harmed. 

Sadly, the Government could not be clearer that it will not strengthen the Hunting Act or ban trail hunting, even on its own land.  This is presumably to appease some of their more bloodthirsty voters. 

Despite this, during the passage of the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, my Opposition Colleagues and I supported several amendments to the Bill which would have strengthened our hunting laws.  

For example, during the Committee Stage, the Opposition tabled amendments to require those who keep hunting dogs to be licensed, for the Government to review welfare conditions of dogs used for hunting, and to ban the use of dogs below ground to stalk or flush out wild animals.  Sadly, none of these amendments made it into the Bill. 

Although I doubt our chances of success, I can assure you that my Opposition Colleagues and I will continue to advocate for the enhancing and strengthening of the Hunting Act, and to close loopholes that allow for the illegal hunting of foxes, deer and hares.