Labour and 'trail hunting': promises but still no ban.
Labour has been promising to tighten up the loopholes in the Hunting Act for years.
In June 2024 the Labour Manifesto pledged to ban ‘trail hunting‘, but the killing still goes on. In January 2026 alone, Protect the Wild reported that at least four hunt packs were filmed ripping up foxes and killing a hare on camera, showing blatant disregard for the law.
During the 2024-2025 hunting ‘season’ Protect the Wild documented 411 incidents of hunting hounds chasing or killing foxes at observed meets. When the figures are scaled up to the total number of fox hunt meets throughout the season, this means that 3,772 foxes were potentially persecuted.
The government repeatedly stated that a consultation on the ban would take place in 2025: that was moved to early 2026. Ministers recently said that the consultation process would begin in March. We’re still waiting...
It’s pretty clear that, despite repeated statements that their animal welfare programmes is the “most ambitious in a generation”, preventing animal suffering isn’t top of the Labour Party agenda. Tellingly, Keir Starmer has never once spoken about the proposed ‘trail hunting’ ban in parliament. There is, however, huge public support for the ban and pressure from both inside and outside the party to make good on their manifesto pledge.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday 17 February, members of the League Against Cruel Sports demonstrated in London calling on Labour to keep their promises. They dumped 648 stuffed foxes outside the National Portrait Gallery, signifying the 648 foxes they say have been illegally chased since the Summer of 2024.
Of course, pro-hunt advocates are working hard to make sure that the promised ‘trail hunting’ ban never comes into effect. Key Tory opponents of the ban in recent parliamentary debates have been Stuart Anderson and Tory Baroness Caroline Balingall Mckintosh. Reform’s Nigel Farage and Suella Braverman have been getting in on the action too.
‘Every month of inaction means continued suffering for wildlife’
We urge Labour to make good on its election pledge and ban ‘trail hunting’, which provides a smokescreen for hunting foxes with hounds. Protect the Wild’s Rob Pownall says:
“Labour promised to strengthen the Hunting Act and finally close the loopholes that allow trail hunting to mask illegal fox hunting. Delaying this consultation sends the wrong message. Every month of inaction means continued suffering for wildlife and continued lawbreaking in the countryside.”
Here’s a timeline of Labour’s promises since their 2024 manifesto:
June 2024 - The Labour Party pledged to ban ‘trail hunting’ in its 2024 Election Manifesto.
4/5 July 2024 - Labour wins the general election, and Keir Starmer’s government is sworn in.
17 July 2024 - Ruth Jones, a backbench Labour MP for Newport and Islwyn, expresses disappointment that Labour’s animal welfare measures didn’t make it into the King’s Speech. She urges her party to ensure that it makes good on these pledges.
18 July 2024 - Baroness Hayman of Ullock, then parliamentary undersecretary for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, stated: “We are developing plans to enable us to tackle the horrendous crimes of puppy smuggling and puppy farming, to close loopholes on trail hunting and to ban snares and the import of hunting trophies.”
25 July 2024 - Labour’s junior minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Mary Creagh affirms that the party were “proudly elected on a promise” to ban ‘trail hunting’.
26 July 2024 - Labour’s then Environment, Food and Rural Affairs minister Daniel Zeichner references the party’s commitment to banning ‘trail hunting’, proclaiming “The Government has committed to introducing the most ambitious programme for animal welfare in a generation.”
September/October/November 2024 - Creagh responds to written questions from Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs affirming that: “The Government is committed to enacting a ban on Trail Hunting, and work to determine the best approach for doing so is ongoing. Further announcements will be made in due course.”
October 2024 - In an open letter signed by a number of British activists and celebrities, Protect the Wild calls on the Labour government to make good on its commitment to ban ‘trail hunting’.
14 October 2024 - Labour’s Luke Pollard announces for the Ministry of Defence (MOD) that no licenses for ‘trail hunting’ have been issued for the 2024-5 hunting ‘season’. MOD minister Maria Eagle later states that the license are under review, in line with Labour’s intention to ban ‘trail hunting’.
2 December 2024 - Creagh states that a meeting has taken place between “officials with an interest” in the promised ban on ‘trail hunting’ “in order to consider its implications on their work. As this work is ongoing, no concrete outcomes have been determined as yet.”
December 2024/January 2025/ February 2025 - Baroness Hayman and Creagh continue to make statements that work on a ‘trail hunting’ ban is ongoing.
4 March 2025: Zeichner says that the government has organised a series of meetings with “key animal welfare stakeholders” on animal rights issues, including banning ‘trail hunting’.
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‘Trail Hunting’ consultation promised in 2025
April 1 2025 - In a Parliamentary ‘adjournment debate’ on ‘Trail Hunting called by Camborne and Redruth Labour MP Perran Moon, Zeichner promises that the government would consult on the proposed ban on ‘trail hunting’ later in 2025.
27 April 2025 - Zeichner says that work to ban ‘trail hunting’ is still “at a very early stage and there is not yet an agreed timetable”.
28 April 2025 - Baroness Hayman tells Tory Viscount Astor in response to a written question that pro-hunt groups such as the British Hound Sports Association, which includes as members hunts which regularly break the existing legislation, will be able to take part in the consultation.
26 June 2025 - Zeichner reassures a Liberal Democrat spokesperson that work is ongoing to get the consultation underway. Throughout June, Creagh and Zeichner make repeated statements that the consultation is ongoing.
30 June 2025 - In a written answer, Zeichner states: “The Government has committed to a ban on trail hunting. Work to determine the best approach for doing so is ongoing and further announcements will be made in due course.” In a parliamentary debate on driven grouse shooting the same day Zeichner affirmed that banning trail hunting “is a manifesto commitment, and this Government keep their commitments.”
30 July 2025 - More than 60 MPs called on the government to release a timetable for their promised consultation.
11 September 2025 - Dame Angela Eagle, the new minister for Environment, Food and Rural affairs confirms in writing to Poole’s Labour MP Neil Duncan-Jordan that “work is ongoing” and an announcement will be made soon.
19 September 2025: Eagle asserts that Labour are “committed” to running the consultation “to ensure those with an interest can input.” She also reaffirms the governments committment to the ban.
Consultation moved to early 2026
29 October 2025 - Eagle reconfirms commitment to the ban in an answer to a written parliamentary question and says the consultation will be “early next year”. She stated in detail that:
“The nature of trail hunting makes it very difficult to do safely. The use of large packs of hounds reduces the control huntsmen have, putting wild mammals, household pets and even members of the public at risk.
Trail hunting also provides a convenient cover for those seeking to participate in illegal hunting activities by obscuring their intention and enabling the inevitable chasing of animals to be labelled as ‘accidental’. This is why we want an effective, enforceable ban that truly protects our wildlife, countryside, and rural communities.”
13 November 2025 - Alan Campbell, leader of the House of Commons, restated that Labour “remains committed to banning trail hunting; we will consult on how to deliver the ban in the new year.”
24 and 26 November, 4 December, 9 December Eagle repeatedly reaffirms that the consultation will take place next year.
16 December 2025 - In response to a written question, Eagle replies, “we will consult on how to deliver a ban in the new year. Legislation will be introduced when Parliamentary time allows.”
18 December 2025 - Emma Reynolds, Labour Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs stated that the hunting consultation would be “in the New Year”.
22 December 2025 - Reynolds sets out the government’s new Animal Welfare Strategy. It states:
“We are a nation of animal lovers. People across the country care deeply for animals. The UK has a proud history of being pioneers when it comes to ensuring the very best for them. This Government is committed to safeguarding the welfare of animals for the long term, and we are changing how we will deliver the improvements needed to achieve the most ambitious reforms to animal welfare in a generation.”
The policy reiterates an intention to ban trail hunting and for a consultation to take place.
7 January 2026 - Parliamentary Debate on Rural Communities - Eagle states: “The ban on trail hunting was in our manifesto, and we are consulting on how to put it into effect.”
11 January 2026 - In a written response to Labour MP Perran Moon, Eagle opts not to answer whether “bodies which have disregarded existing hunting law will be ruled out of playing a role in shaping future hunting law” as part of the consultation. She does, however, reiterate that the consultation will take place.
15 January 2026 - In response to Tory Shadow Health Secretary Stuart Andrews’ questions about the supposed effect of a ban on rural communities, Eagle states that the consultation “will be used to inform our assessment of the potential impact of a ban on trail hunting on the economy in rural communities” and that opinions will be elicited from “all quarters, including from rural stakeholders and trail hunting organisations.”
21 January 2026 - Parliamentary debate on Labour’s animal welfare strategy - Eagle states, “we will ban trail hunting. The nature of trail hunting makes it difficult to ensure that wild mammals are not put at risk, and we intend to launch a consultation very soon”.
29 January 2026 - Eagle affirms that the government will “introduce legislation to ban the activity of trail hunting when Parliamentary time allows.” She also reasserts plans for the consultation. Her comments were in response to a question about the government’s timeline for fulfilling its election promise by Labour MP for Rushcliffe James Naish.
29 January 2026 - Eagles states that the consultation will take place “early this year”. She reiterated the government’s commitment in a written answer to a question by Reform UK’s Suella Braverman the same day. She gave the same answer at least twice more that day.
11 February 2026 - Perran Moon asks what criteria parliament will apply when deciding “which organisations are invited to participate in the forthcoming consultation on banning trail hunting; and whether bodies which have disregarded existing hunting law will be ruled out of playing a role in shaping future hunting law”. Baroness Hayman gave a hollow reply, but did reiterate that the government still planned on the consultation taking place.
12 February 2026 - Poole’s Labour MP Neil Duncan Jordan receives assurances from Hayman that the government’s consultation on banning trail hunting will take place by March at the latest.
The consultation has been pushed back yet again.
Each week that Labour dithers over its promised ban on trail hunting, foxes are dying.
Please use Protect the Wild’s automated tool to email your MP and demand that they ensure that the consultation takes place as planned and that Labour follows through with enacting a proper ban on hunting.
Sign our petition calling for a proper ban on hunting, and check out our proposal for a workable ban on the hunting of mammals with hounds.
Read our 2024-2025 report: ‘20 Years on: The True Face of Hunting with Hounds in 2025’.
Image of National Gallery protest via League Against Cruel Sports. Photograph of parliament via Adrian Pingstone/Wikimedia. Image of fox killed by the Portman Hunt in January 2026, courtesy of North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs. Sleeping fox picture via Lachlan Gowen on Unsplash.
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These poor foxes and other wildlife are still living in fear for their lives because labour won't do anything.
This is so very frustrating. The vast majority of the public both rural and urban want to see trail hunting banned. I don’t understand what Labour are afraid of. There’s no need for a consultation on a new bill, they simply need to strengthen the existing Hunting Act. We must all keep the pressure on to bring this about. 💪🦊