Vikki Slade, MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, has joined more than fifty parliamentarians in pressing the government to urgently strengthen laws against hunting with hounds.
In a letter sent to Daniel Zeichner MP, Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs, the cross-party group calls for swift movement from consultation to concrete legislation. The letter follows ongoing concerns that trail hunting is being used as a cover for illegal hunting activities, despite the Hunting Act coming into force over twenty years ago.
The letter, coordinated by Neil Duncan-Jordan MP and campaign group The New Hunting Ban, urges DEFRA to provide clear details on when the government’s promised consultation will begin, what it will include, and how soon legislation will follow.
Polling referenced in the letter shows that seventy-three per cent of people in Dorset Mid and Poole North support a change to the law that would close existing loopholes.
The MPs raise concerns about the continued deaths of wild animals, and the treatment of dogs used by hunts, describing the situation as “another season of suffering.”
The New Hunting Ban campaign group has also launched its own consultation on proposals to fully outlaw hunting with hounds. The survey is available on thenewhuntingban.com.
Campaign Director Rhys Giles said the joint letter signals that public patience has run out, and urged the government to act decisively.