Tim Bonner: Labour pledges to repeat hunting disaster

Hunting was back on the front pages of the newspapers last week with reports of a 27-year-old scandal. Lord (Peter) Mandelson admitted in a Times Radio podcast that the £1 million donated to the Labour Party in 1996 by the Political Animal Lobby (an offshoot of IFAW) helped to secure the commitment to a vote on hunting in the 1997 Labour manifesto. A letter in The Guardian from the man who collected the £1 million cheque, Brian Basham, subsequently revealed that he resigned as a Labour fundraiser because of his concerns about the influence that and other large donations could have on Labour policy.

Tony Blair has already admitted that the hunting ban is one of the legislative measures he most regrets and all the evidence is that the Hunting Act has failed at every level, not least in the damage it has caused to the countryside and biodiversity. The Labour Party should now be thinking about how to right the wrongs of the past and remove this running sore in Labour’s relationship with rural communities. Hunting, however, seems to be an issue which defies all logic and which Labour just cannot drop. Indeed, whilst the funding story might seem to be ancient history it is actually very relevant to today. Just as in 1996 the Labour Party is once more in a position to take power and, extraordinarily, it is again contemplating legislation on hunting.

In response to the funding story in The Guardian a Labour Party source said:

“Labour promised at the last election to tighten loopholes in the legislation by toughening penalties for those who break the laws it creates and introducing a clause that punishes those who “recklessly” allow dogs to kill foxes.

 

“Party officials say they will keep those elements in the next manifesto, but do not intend to bring forward any other major piece of animal rights legislation which might further alienate rural communities.”

This briefing strongly suggests that the policy adopted at this year’s Labour Party Conference to “close loopholes in the Hunting Act” will be in the Labour manifesto. It specifically references toughening penalties, which would presumably involve introducing a custodial sentence for Hunting Act offences which currently attract a maximum fine of £5,000. It also says that it will introduce clause that punishes those who “recklessly” allow dogs to kill foxes. This would almost certainly lead to even more police time being wasted as activists would be encouraged to make ever more spurious allegations of illegal hunting.

Whether that commitment is in the Labour manifesto, and how far it goes in ‘strengthening’ the Hunting Act can still be affected by the public and political perception of current hunting activity. If the supposed justification for new legislation is the claim that some hunts are not operating legally then the obvious response is to show very clearly and very consistently that every hunt is. This may mean a change in way hunts operate, but it has to be worth it to protect the future of hunts and hounds.

Meanwhile, at every level from the Labour leadership down to candidates in parliamentary constituencies we need to send an unambiguous message that trail hunting is a legitimate and positive activity which benefits the countryside and rural communities.

Not only the Alliance, but also many other commentators have warned Labour against launching another divisive culture war in the countryside. It took seven years, 700 hours of parliamentary time and a huge amount of political capital to get the Hunting Act onto the statute book. If Labour is determined to ignore the lessons of history it will sully its reputation in the countryside for another 20 years.