Fox hunting: Future in doubt

Thousands of pro-hunt protesters have layed siege to the Labour Party conference in Brighton.

The protest came in the wake of the Commons vote to ban hunting and reports of increased militancy among countryside groups.

The protest began with rotting horse carcasses being left in Brighton town centre before a march came to a halt in front of the conference centre.

Hundreds of police were kitted up in riot gear with dogs and batons on standby.

The Countryside Alliance protest brought Brighton to a halt on the day Tony Blair addressed Labour delegates.

Whilst the prime minister has made clear he does not support a ban, he respects the Commons' decision and is likely to force through the measure using the Parliament Act.

That will set the government on a collision course with pro-hunt groups and is likely to create a campaign of civil disobedience.

Whilst the government hoped that an 18 month delay on the introduction of the ban would temper opposition until after the general election, that now appears unlikely.

Tuesday's march, which culminated in a 10-deep protest outside the conference centre, followed the recent stand-off between pro-hunt campaigners and police outside the House of Parliament.

The already high police presence in Brighton was stepped up amid fears of fresh violence.

Over the weekend Commons leader Peter Hain's Neath home was targeted by pro-hunt groups who blocked his exit to the Labour conference.

Rural affairs minister Alun Michael has also had his diary altered to avoid meeting campaigners opposed to the ban on hunting with hounds.

Bitter

Away from the conference divisions over the future of hunting have led to a deterioration in already tense relations between the pro and anti-hunt groups.

Animal righrs group IFAW says that leaked Countryside Alliance documents complaining about a "shortage of foxes" have "blown apart the myth at the heart of the hunters' argument".

The memo from Simon Hart, chairman of the Countryside Alliance, to Lord Daresbury, chairman of the Master of Fox Hounds Association, refers to a letter that Daresbury sent in March this year complaining about the lack of foxes - and criticising landowners for not doing enough to encourage foxes to breed on their land.

Phyllis Campbell-McCrae, director of IFAW UK, said: "This latest revelation comes as no surprise to IFAW, whose hunt monitors have frequently uncovered hunts around the country using artificial earths and food trails to encourage foxes onto their land.

"Having lost both the argument and the campaign within the democratic process, the pro-hunt lobby is now resorting to violence and intimidation of our elected parliamentarians.

"It is time for the ban - and time the hunters gave up this cruel sport and found themselves a more humane pastime."