Tory supporters trail Brexit Party voters in backing crackdown on illegal fox-hunting

Conservative backers are less supportive of tough laws on illegal fox-hunting than voters for the other main parties – including the Brexit Party.

Tory supporters showed the lowest support of the four main political factions for the idea of illegal hunting being punishable by jail terms.

They also came lowest when it came to wanting the Hunting Act to be strengthened to prevent the killing of foxes.

The poll comes just weeks ahead of controversial Boxing Day and New Year’s Day hunts, when packs claim they follow a legal scent trail but opponents claim they chase foxes, breaking the Hunting Act 2004.

A fine of up to £5,000 is the only punishment available to magistrates.

But in a poll on whether illegal hunting with dogs should be punishable by prison sentences, there was cross-party backing for the idea. Of those who expressed a view, it had the support of 74 per cent.

Some 84 per cent of those intending to vote Labour, 75 per cent of Brexit Party supporters, 71 per cent of Lib Dem supporters and 67 per cent of Conservative Party supporters approved.

The survey, by YouGov for the League Against Cruel Sports, also found strong backing for strengthening the Hunting Act to prevent the killing of foxes, with Tory supporters again less enthusiastic than others.

Of those who expressed a view, 89 per cent of Labour voters, 82 per cent of Lib Dem supporters, 71 per cent of Brexit Party supporters, and 68 per cent of Conservatives agreed.

Saboteurs regularly claim to have seen foxes being savaged by packs of dogs but hunters insist it happens accidentally if hounds leave a pre-laid scent trail.

Earlier this week a fox was beheaded after being attacked by a pack of dogs, near Rye, East Sussex, according to saboteurs. Overhead footage showed a pack converging on an animal.

The poll – the first of its kind – found that 79 per cent of respondents who expressed a view thought the Hunting Act should be amended to ensure foxes are not killed by hunts, intentionally or otherwise, when they claim to be trail-hunting.

Chris Luffingham, of the league, said: “How many times do we need to show pictures and film of foxes being ripped apart by dogs before the politicians realise the Hunting Act is not doing what it’s there to do – protect the lives of wild animals?

“In the next fortnight there are two separate hunts in court, and we know if the law was strengthened there would be a lot more. It’s time police and the courts were given the power they need – and that the public want – to bring prosecutions.”

The league, which says 191 fox hunts operate in Britain, says the introduction of a recklessness clause in the legislation would stop hunts arguing they were trail-hunting when animals are killed.