If you wanted a definition of pointlessness then the motion put to Essex County Council this week to ban trail-hunting on council-owned land is a fairly good one. It is not clear that any hunting activities actually take place on the Council's land holdings, which is mostly made up of schools and parks, and anyway, trail-hunting is a perfectly legal activity.
Of course, because the issue is hunting, logic and common sense go out of the window. The Labour councillor who moved the motion was only too ready to make allegations about illegal activity despite the fact that in the 14 years that the Hunting Act has been in force, no one connected with a hunt in Essex has been charged with, let alone convicted of, an offence. Thankfully, however, the majority of his colleagues did not share his prejudice and they firmly rejected the motion in a full Council meeting on Tuesday. Winning this motion might not have had much practical significance, but it did send a message that playing politics with hunting is not quite as straightforward as the motion's proponents would like to think.
A good part of that decision came because of a significant lobby by our supporters in the county. Essex may not be the first county that springs to mind when you think about hunting but there is a strong tradition of venery in the county. The Essex and the Essex Farmers and Union merged last year to form a strong operation in the middle of the county and four other packs of foxhounds, as well as beagles and bassets, hunt in the county.
Those hunts are well supported and there is a significant rural constituency in the county. We asked our supporters to contact their councillors and they did so in good numbers. One councillor told us it was the first time she had ever been lobbied on a council motion. We can only hope that the lesson handed out to Labour in Essex will be heard elsewhere in the party. Petty, prejudiced attacks on hunting might tick boxes in Islington Labour Party meetings, but in the real world of real voters, Labour's ongoing obsession with hunting makes the party look frankly odd and completely out of touch with rural priorities.
Unfortunately this has been a lesson that some politicians have struggled to learn so if you do hear of any similar motions being brought forward in your area please do let us know at [email protected]
Tim Bonner
Chief Executive
Follow me at @CA_TimB
Image credit: www.essexandsuffolkhunt.co.uk