Record crowds were reported at Boxing Day meets last month as hunt supporters reacted to the government’s Animal Welfare Strategy, published just days before hounds were due to gather in towns and villages across the country.

News that the government was reaffirming its manifesto commitment to ban trail hunting and the intention to consult on its implementation in the new year came as no surprise to the Countryside Alliance’s PR and media team, which worked around the clock to ensure that hunting’s voice was heard by millions of people across different media platforms. This resulted in widespread domination of the news media in the lead up to, on Boxing Day itself and throughout the following days.

Following the announcement of the Animal Welfare Strategy, Tim Bonner, our Chief Executive, was interviewed at a hunt kennels on GB News and BBC News as well as featuring on Radio 4 and Times Radio, while various Alliance representatives and those from the British Hound Sports Association were interviewed live on various radio programmes and other television broadcasts. In the days that followed, several major commentary pieces featured across the national press, including a powerful leader column in The Times newspaper, titled “A ban on trail hunting would not address the country’s needs”.

In the build-up to Boxing Day, the Alliance circulated a widely carried press release in which it announced details of recent polling which revealed that more than two thirds of voters think the Labour government neglects rural people and doesn’t care about them.

 The embargoed release was taken up by hundreds of outlets across the national and regional press and succeeded in setting the tone for Boxing Day coverage, ensuring that the countryside’s voice dominated the news agenda and marginalised anti-hunting campaigners. Coverage appeared across leading titles including The Sun, The Guardian and The Daily Mail, alongside a host of local newspapers. 

The Telegraph, separately, covered a different hunting story on Boxing Day which was placed by the Alliance. The feature looked at how trail hunting plays an important role in rural communities, with interviews with hunt staff, hunt supporters, volunteers and a local publican who hosts a meet in Derbyshire.

On Boxing Day, the Alliance supported news crews from ITV at the Bicester with Whaddon Chase’s meet in Winslow, Bucks. Polly Portwin, our Director of the Campaign for Hunting, had an early morning visit to the South Notts kennels with Sky News before attending their meet in Car Colston. GB News visited the kennels of the Heythrop where interviews were conducted with the kennel-huntsman and one of the masters, before following hounds throughout the day from their well-attended meet in Chipping Norton.

Following Boxing Day, Polly Portwin of the Countryside Alliance said:

“Boxing Day meets demonstrated, yet again, that they are a fantastic way of bringing people together, while supporting fragile local businesses. The government’s fixation on trail hunting is completely out of kilter with the priorities of voters, with many believing that ministers are unfairly neglecting rural communities. The government has a long way to go if it wants to rebuild its relationship with rural communities and that will start with legislating to do things for the countryside, rather than against it.”