Fox hunters ‘to face tougher penalties’ as ministers accused of picking another fight with rural communities
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The Labour government’s plans were under the spotlight as Boxing Day hunts met on Thursday. Fox hunters are understood to be facing harsher penalties under plans being pursued by the government, leading countryside groups to accuse the government of “picking another fight” with rural communities.
![[Protesters in Westminster from Peta animal rights group demonstrate against fox hunting in 2020]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2020/11/27/11/PRI173997793.jpg)
It comes just weeks after ministers imposed inheritance tax on farmland for the first time since 1992, with a 20 per cent rate being paid for all land valued at £1m or more. The Labour government’s plans came under the spotlight as the annual Boxing Day hunts met on Thursday.
![[The Labour government’s plans were under the spotlight as the annual Boxing Day hunts met on Thursday]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/19/11/ceb0c7f4f8a003124a06aa0ee83b1efdY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM0NjkxMzAy-2.74949714.jpg)
While Labour has already promised to ban trail hunting, the government is reportedly considering going further, including introducing higher fines for those who break the existing fox hunting law and making it easier to prosecute hunters if a fox is killed by accident.
Traditional hunts were replaced with trail hunting, which involves laying a trail using a rag soaked in animal scent, in 2004 after the Labour government restricted the practice. While trail hunting mimics traditional fox hunting with dogs, but without chasing, injuring, or killing an animal, animal welfare campaigners have argued it is being used as a smokescreen to continue to hunt wild foxes illegally.
Sources told The Telegraph that, under Labour’s new plans, hunters could face prosecution if a fox is killed through “recklessness”. Currently, the threshold is significantly higher, with it being necessary to prove it was deliberate. While fines for fox hunting are currently uncapped, they are usually a few hundred pounds. Ministers are reportedly now looking at altering sentencing guidelines to increase minimum penalties for the offence.
