Campaigners from the League Against Cruel Sports gathered outside Labour's conference in Liverpool to urge the Government to "finish the job" on fox hunting, calling for a ban on so-called trail hunting and a stronger Hunting Act. They were joined by Labour MP Ruth Jones.
The good-natured protest, fronted by the League's fox mascot, asked MPs, delegates and trade unionists to pledge support for legislation in the next parliamentary session, following the Government's consultation on banning trail hunting earlier this year.
Jones: 'Colleagues are impatient to make this change happen'
Ruth Jones, Labour MP for Newport West and Islwyn, said Labour MPs had been elected on a clear commitment.
"At the last election, Labour MPs stood on a clear manifesto commitment to close the loopholes in the Hunting Act by banning trail hunting. Colleagues are impatient to make this change happen - we just need the Government to act now."
'A smokescreen to hide the chasing and killing of foxes'
Emma Slawinski, chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports, said hunting was still going on two decades after the ban came into force.
"We need a ban on so-called trail hunting, which is simply a smokescreen to hide the chasing and killing of foxes, and we need the government to finish the job after its consultation to ban it earlier this year.
"The Hunting Act needs to be strengthened with the exemptions that hunts exploit to target foxes and deer being removed; the law needs to be changed to prevent hunts from claiming their kills are 'accidental'; and an effective deterrent in the form of prison sentences is needed for those that break the law."
The League wants an announcement this autumn on new legislation, to be brought forward in the next parliamentary session at the latest.
Its end-of-season figures recorded 488 foxes seen being chased during the most recent cub hunting and fox hunting seasons in England and Wales, along with 1,220 incidents of what it calls "hunt havoc", including trespass, livestock worrying and hounds running on railway lines and busy roads. Of 624 hunt meets reported, just 23 showed evidence of a trail being laid.
Polling for the League by Find Out Now, with analysis by Electoral Calculus, found 76 per cent of the public supported stronger fox hunting laws, including 70 per cent of people in the countryside.
