Hunting ban pressure

THE Government is under pressure over its manifesto pledge to ban trail hunting as hunts gather for the traditional Boxing Day meet.

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Anti-hunting campaigners are urging them to deliver on the promise to ban trail hunting - a practice in which a scent is laid across the countryside for hounds and riders to follow as an alternative to banned fox hunting, but which has been criticised as a "smokescreen" for illegal activity.

But the Countryside Alliance has warned further changes to the law are "completely unjustified", as people were carrying out a legitimate, legal activity that brought the rural community together.

Tim Bonner, the alliance's chief executive, also said the issue of trail hunting was irrelevant to most people and it would be "extraordinary" for Labour to focus on it given the poor state of relations with rural communities.