Nick Herbert: Change is no longer a choice

Our Chair, Nick Herbert, has written about the long history of political attacks on hunting and the current fight for hunting’s future in February’s edition of The Field magazine. You can read excerpts below. To get the full article buy a copy of The Field available from all good newsagents.

You can read excerpts below. 

“It wasn’t until the later years of the last Labour government that the Hunting Act finally passed. In the end nothing could stand in the way of hundreds of Labour MPs who had scented blood and were set on a ban. The real story of the Hunting Act does not begin with the Labour election victory in 1997. Its origins can be traced to before the Second World War, when the first serious attempts to introduce a ban were made.

“In the years after this, the strategy was to see off any backbench anti-hunting Bill by skilful use of Parliamentary tactics. It all worked so well that few in the hunting world saw the tide of opinion turning, let alone thought they needed to address their own conduct. And now I fear that history is about to repeat itself.

We have another Labour landslide, another anti-hunting manifesto commitment, and hunting is once again vulnerable.

“So hunting can either wait for the inevitable Parliamentary move or it can decide to demonstrate, convincingly, that trail hunting is indeed being properly conducted. That means going further and faster than the steps which have been taken so far. It won’t be enough for hunts to tell their local MP that they are complying with the law, or to take part in a single trail hunting exhibition day. They must be able to demonstrate compliance at all times.

The Countryside Alliance will do everything in our power to counter the threat.

"We will point out the absurdity of banning hunting again, the waste of parliamentary time and the misplaced priorities. We will highlight the damage which the Hunting Act has done and the abject failure of its claimed purpose, to protect the welfare of the fox. We will expose the extremism of the animal rights agenda. And we will continue to warn the Government that re-stoking the hunting debate will be seen as a further assault on rural communities already enraged by the family farm tax.

“And if hunting is willing to embrace credible regulation now, hounds can meet for decades to come.  There is a great story to be told, one that can draw on the public’s fondness for horses and hounds, heritage and history. It’s a story that can be promoted on social media and draw new support. But to tell it requires change.

Those who have the privilege of following hounds today have a duty to act now, so that the sport we love can be enjoyed for generations to come.