Politics Home Article | Labour can finish the job on fox hunting

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The Hunting Act is one of the landmark animal welfare measures of the last Labour government. Labour itself celebrated the achievement: at its 2006 conference, the party showed a film entitled “50 Reasons to be Proud of Labour”, which included the declaration, “We’ve banned fox hunting.”

Twenty years on, hunting has not disappeared. Foxes are still chased by packs of hounds; deer are still pursued to exhaustion; animals are still torn apart at the end of a chase. Trail hunting emerged after the act as a purported alternative in which hounds follow a pre-laid animal-based scent. Chief Superintendent Matt Longman, national lead on fox hunting crime, has described trail hunting as a “smokescreen for ille­gal fox hunting” and illegal hunting as “prolific”. Other exemptions and weaknesses in the law provide big loopholes and make enforcement difficult.

That is why banning trail hunting, while essential, cannot be the end of the job. The law also needs to address reckless or so-called accidental hunting, remove exploitable exemp­tions, strengthen responsibility for those organising hunts and controlling hounds, and provide penalties that deter offending.

There is a democratic mandate for action. Labour’s 2024 manifesto committed to banning trail hunting, a commit­ment subsequently reiterated in the government’s Animal Welfare Strategy. The government has now consulted on how to deliver it.

It is also popular. Polling found 62 per cent of people in England and Wales believe trail hunting should be illegal. In rural areas, 58 per cent support and only 28 per cent oppose a ban, challenging the familiar suggestion that this is a town-versus-country divide. For Labour politicians wondering how this plays beyond Westminster, there is another striking figure. Polling found that 76 per cent of the public backed strengthening hunting laws,3 suggesting the policy would pass the so-called ‘Makerfield test’.

For a charity that has campaigned against hunting for over a century, this is not about party politics. We work across polit­ical parties and want every government to protect animals from being chased and killed for sport. But Labour’s history on this issue is significant. In September 2004, 318 Labour MPs voted for the Hunting Bill with only three against; and, when resistance in the Lords threatened its passage, the Parliament Acts were ultimately used to secure it.

Now Labour has an opportunity to complete that work. Twenty years of experience have shown where the Hunting Act can be exploited, and its 2024 manifesto recognised unfin­ished business. The consultation has created a route towards reform; the next step must be legislation that deals with the weaknesses comprehensively.

There is good reason not to wait. Parliamentary time is finite and legislative programmes become more crowded as a parliament progresses. Strengthening the act still needs a legislative vehicle and enough time to complete its passage. Delay carries a real risk that an overwhelmingly popular manifesto commitment simply runs out of parliamentary road.

The consultation response hoped for this autumn must be followed by strong, comprehen­sive legislation at the earliest opportunity: legislation that bans trail hunting, closes the loopholes that enable hunting to continue and gives police and prosecutors a law they can enforce effectively.

Labour once proudly said it had banned hunting. The opportunity now is to finish the job.