THE fight for the freedom to hunt is still winnable and it is important not just for those who hunt but for everyone who values civil rights and individual freedom.
From now until the next general election the Countryside Alliance will be running a vigorous and varied campaign with four key targets:
l To persuade the House of Lords that the Hunting Bill should be based on the regulation of hunting based on evidence, principle and science.
l If the Labour Party?s backbenchers continue to reject this approach because of their continuing prejudice we will mount a challenge in the courts under the Human Rights Act.
l The Alliance will also challenge in the courts, with the help of leading constitutional lawyers, any projected use of the Parliament Acts to drive discredited and discriminatory legislation through the Lords and onto the statute book.
l We will also seek to persuade the main political parties of the need for sensible animal welfare legislation to prevent deliberate cruelty to wild mammals, and promote the conservation and management of our wildlife as a national asset.
The campaign will reflect the determination of decent people never to submit to unjust laws. We will be campaigning, and campaigning relentlessly, not just for the hunting community, not just for the rural community but for everyone in our society who values freedom, fairness and the proper working of democracy.
Alison Hawes
South West Regional Director
Countryside Alliance