Labour risks opening a Pandora's box if it presses ahead with a ban on trail hunting, a senior peer has said. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets with a pack of hounds to march on the offices of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in Westminster this week.
The demonstration, organised by the Countryside Alliance, came the day before the close of a government consultation on outlawing trail hunting and the blowing of hunting horns. It marked the latest flashpoint in what rural campaigners have branded a Labour war on the countryside.
Peer Warns Government of Grave Mistake
Lord Herbert, a Conservative peer, told the crowd outside Marsham Street that the Government was making a grave mistake. "The Government is opening a Pandora's box, and if they have any sense, they will close it again," he said.
Parliamentarians from across different parties backed the demonstration, with a Labour peer criticising her own Government. Baroness Mallalieu, a Labour peer, accused ministers of waging a needless culture war while ignoring the issues that matter to ordinary families.
"Has this country not got enough problems?" she told attendees. "Is it really a priority for a Labour Government which has promised so much and has so far delivered so little? We are now teetering on the brink of another serious misjudgement. If you list trail hunting as a priority in your first term in office in 14 years, you will be a laughing stock and never forgiven."
Rural Revolts Against Labour
The protest was the latest in a string of rural revolts against the Government. Baroness Mallalieu featured in the most recent series of Clarkson's Farm, appearing alongside Jeremy Clarkson when he joined thousands of farmers protesting in Westminster last year against Labour's inheritance tax raid.
Labour proposed an inheritance levy on agricultural assets worth more than £1million. The Daily Express has campaigned to scrap the measure, which farmers warn will break up family farms handed down through generations and threaten Britain's food security.
Campaigners say the tax, combined with steep rises in business rates for rural firms and now the proposed hunting ban, amounts to a sustained assault on country life.
Countryside Alliance Chief Executive Speaks Out
Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, said the strength of feeling could not be clearer. "The countryside, and the country as a whole, has a thousand greater priorities than Labour's vendetta against hunts," he said.
A Defra spokesperson said: "This Government is committed to enacting a ban on trail hunting that truly protects our countryside, wildlife and rural communities. The nature of trail hunting makes it difficult to ensure that wild mammals such as foxes, deer and hares are not placed in danger of being pursued and injured or killed by dogs and this must stop. There is no intention that other activities such as drag hunting or clean boot hunting should be affected by the ban."
