Campaigners outside Labour Party conference call for stronger fox hunting laws

Animal welfare campaigners from national charity the League Against Cruel Sports were outside the Labour Party conference today calling on the government to strengthen fox hunting laws.

The good-natured protest saw the League ‘fox’ and campaigners urge Labour Party MPs, delegates and trade unionists to pledge their support for the government banning so-called trail hunting and introducing a series of measures that would end hunting with dogs for good.

The campaigners called on the government to ‘finish the job’ after its consultation to ban trail hunting earlier this year and introduce legislation in the next parliamentary session that will strengthen the Hunting Act.

Ruth Jones MP for Newport West and Islwyn joined the campaigners. She said: "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."

Emma Slawinski, chief executive at the League Against Cruel Sports, said: “We were here to remind the government that we are waiting for them to introduce the legislation needed to finally end fox hunting, which is still going on despite the ban.

“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.

“We are calling on the government to make an announcement this autumn on new legislation at the latest in the next parliamentary session that will consign fox hunting and hunting with dogs to the history books.”

“We need to make it easier for the police and courts to tackle the scourge of fox hunting, something that would be popular with the public in both urban areas and the countryside.”

Polling commissioned by the League Against Cruel Sports and carried out independently by FindOutNow with further analysis by Electoral Calculus in March/April 2024 found that 76 per cent of the public supported stronger fox hunting laws, with only seven per cent disagreeing.

A clear majority of voters in rural as well as urban areas across the country backed new laws to stop foxes being chased by hounds and killed, with 70 per cent of people in the countryside supporting the proposal.

The League’s end of season figures show the scale of fox hunting still taking place – 488 foxes were seen being chased during the most recent cub hunting and fox hunting seasons in England and Wales which finished at the end of March.

The figures also showed a pattern of anti-social behaviour by hunts, with 1,220 incidents in which they wreaked havoc on rural communities. The ‘hunt havoc’ included reports of trespass; livestock worrying; and hounds running amok on railway lines and busy roads – all activities inconsistent with the idea of following a trail, which is what hunts claim to be doing.

Just 23 or 3.7% of the 624 hunt meets reported across England and Wales contained evidence of a trail being laid – and within those 23 reports there was still evidence of 22 foxes being chased.

Ends

Notes to editors

For information or interview requests, please contact the League Against Cruel Sports Press Office on 01483 524280 or email pressoffice@league.org.uk

• Fox hunting was banned in England and Wales when the Hunting Act came into force on February 18, 2005.
• Trail hunting, the excuse often used by hunts, has been described by temporary assistant chief constable Matt Longman, the national lead on fox hunting crime, as a “smokescreen for illegal fox hunting”. He also described illegal hunting as “prolific”.
• Find Out Now interviewed 5,379 GB adults online from 26 March-2 April 2024. Data were weighted to be demographically representative of all GB adults by gender, age, social grade, other demographics and past voting patterns. Find Out Now and Electoral Calculus are both members of the British Polling Council and abide by its rules. A full breakdown of the data is available here: https://electoralcalculus.co.uk/blogs/DataTables_LACS_Jun2024.xlsx
• The full set of data for the 2025/2026 fox hunting seasons is available on request. The figures are compiled from reports to the charity’s confidential Animal Crimewatch service and other reports from monitor and hunt saboteur groups analysed by the League’s intelligence team, which is staffed by former police officers and civilian analysts. The figures are believed to be just the tip of the iceberg showing only those hunts being monitored.
• The League Against Cruel Sports is Britain's leading charity that works to stop animals being persecuted, abused and killed for sport. The League was instrumental in helping bring about the landmark Hunting Act 2004, the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021, the Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act 2023 and bans on the use of snares brought about by the Agriculture (Wales) Act 2023, and Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024. We carry out investigations to expose law-breaking and cruelty to animals and campaign for stronger animal protection laws and penalties. We work to change attitudes and behaviour through education and manage wildlife reserves. Find out more about our work at www.league.org.uk. Registered charity in England and Wales (no.1095234) and Scotland (no.SC045533).