As I reported last week, the government has published its consultation on banning trail hunting and on Sunday, with our partners the British Hound Sports Association and as part of our joint Future for Hunting campaign, we launched our first campaign reaction. Our e-lobby tool allows everyone to submit a template response to the government and copy that to their MP so they know of your opposition to a ban on trail hunting.
Tens of thousands of people have already taken part and it is critical we show Ministers and backbench MPs the strength of support for trail hunting across the country. The consultation will run until 18 June and we must all be relentless in ensuring that everyone we know who loves hounds, trail hunting and the countryside has taken part.
Responding could not be easier so share the link by email, WhatsApp and on social media. Screenshot the QR code above and don’t miss any opportunity to direct people to the e-lobby. No event, function or even a round of drinks should pass by without ensuring everyone has done their bit for hunting.
This, however, is only the first step. Many of you, including those who are employed by hunts and whose businesses rely on trail hunting, will want to make individual or supplementary submissions. These are vitally important because they will ensure that the government cannot ignore the social and economic damage that destroying the infrastructure of hunting would cause.
We will be issuing guidance for various different groups, from farriers to farmers, to help with the submission process. Please respond here if you or your business would be personally impacted by a ban on trail hunting and we will be in touch in the coming weeks.
Generating consultation responses might not seem like the most exciting activity, and it might seem a long time just to hammer home that message until the middle of June, but the most mundane actions are often the most important in politics. The government is already on the back foot. It knows that another attack on the countryside, this time through the Labour party’s old obsession with hunting, is a desperately bad look with the Middle East at war, fuel prices spiralling and the cost of living crisis deepening. The government has already signalled that it does not intend to ban all hunting, and if we can send a strong and unequivocal message that the countryside rejects a prejudiced attack on trail hunting then it will only make Ministers think even harder about the wisdom of picking this fight.
Once the consultation has closed the government will spend several months analysing the submissions, preparing its own position and possibly drafting legislation. It is unlikely to respond until well into next hunting season so there will be plenty of time to display opposition to the ban in many different ways and, crucially, to demonstrate again that trail hunting is a legitimate activity which is so important to rural communities.
In the meantime we all have just one job, and that is to ensure that every last person we know registers their opposition to the ban.