Countryside Alliance Sends 10,000 Emails Criticising Labour’s Hunting Ban Plan

The hounds of the Atherstone Hunt look out from a horse box as they wait for their master to go out on a hunt in Bosworth, England, on March 5, 2015. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The Countryside Alliance, a prominent think tank for rural issues, revealed on Thursday that over 10,000 emails were sent to criticise the Labour Party’s recent pledge to ban fox hunting.

Speaking during a visit in February to a farm in Northamptonshire, Labour’s shadow environment secretary Steve Reed told The Sunday Times that a full ban on hunting would be something his party would “do in the first term of a Labour government.”

At the time, Polly Portwin, who leads the Countryside Alliance’s Hunting Campaign, said in an open statement, “Mr. Reed does not seem to have any understanding of what either trail or drag hunting entails and that they are currently lawful pursuits which involve the laying of a scent across the countryside for hounds to follow.”

The alliance revealed that over 10,000 emails were sent to Mr. Reed within 72 hours of his original pledge.

The response has prompted Labour to clarify its position, with Mr. Reed and other party members now suggesting a more nuanced approach aimed at ensuring the law’s “adherence” rather than a full ban.

‘Less Than 0.2 Percent’ Considering Hunting Issue

Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, said in a statement on Thursday: “The last time we ran polling on this issue less than 0.2 percent of people spontaneously mentioned hunting as one of the issues that would change how they vote. When we asked them to compare hunting with other issues that might impact on their choice at an election it ranked well below wind farms, house building, mobile phone connection and HS2.

“The reality is that Labour is not following public opinion with its commitment on trail hunting, it is bowing to a small group within the party for whom hunting is a totemic political issue. The reasons for this obsession are rooted in class war, envy and a completely misplaced perception of hunting as somehow symbolic of Tory England. It is impossible to square such an approach with the suggestion that Labour has a renewed respect for rural communities.

“[Sir] Keir Starmer will have to decide whether he really is going to change Labour’s approach to the countryside, or whether he is going to enable another attack on hunting. He cannot do both.”

Labour peer Lord Mandelson told the Lords that policies around hunting were “third or fourth order issues for the public.”

Lord Mandelson added, “[Labour has] got to remain focused on a strategy and the key issues which are important to voters.”

The Hunting Act of 2004, enacted under the previous Labour government led by Sir Tony Blair, initially sought to curtail fox hunting and related activities. While successive Conservative administrations have largely maintained the status quo, the act’s effectiveness and the presence of alleged loopholes have been points of contention.

‘An Issue of Liberty and Livelihood’

Tess Wheldon, an analyst for rural policy at the Orthodox Conservatives Group, a prominent “small-c” conservative think-tank, told The Epoch Times in February: “Drag hunting is an issue of liberty and livelihood for rural people. It is not only a chance for rural communities to gather and enjoy traditions passed down through generations since the 1600s but also plays an important role in the rural economy.

“The upkeep of kennels, hunt horses, transport, and the tourism that hunting brings in all feeds into work done by farriers, kennel-masters, vets, mechanics, and local businesses. The bottom line is that the countryside will suffer should hunting be banned.”