Hunting ban legal challenge gets underway
A legal challenge to the ban on hunting with dogs is underway this afternoon.
Pro-hunting campaigners have lodged papers with the High Court.
The Countryside Alliance is applying for a judicial review of the 1949 Parliament Act after it was used to force through the Hunting Bill on Thursday.
The alliance is challenging the legality of the 1949 Act, which updated the original Act passed in 1911, on the basis that the updated version was passed without the approval of the House of Lords.
Speaking outside the High Court, the chief executive of the alliance, Simon Hart, said: “Today has constitutional implications that extend well beyond the countryside and well beyond hunting.”
He described the use of the Parliament Act as “an abuse of Parliament” and “an abuse of Government”.
He also confirmed the alliance would take its case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Meanwhile, animal welfare campaigners said they would be “monitoring” the countryside for any attempts to continue hunting with dogs after the ban is implemented in February, and would report such breaches to the police.
A spokeswoman for the League Against Cruel Sports also said they were “disappointed” by reports that hunters were planning widespread civil disobedience.
The alliance’s Simon Hart said he would “neither encourage or discourage” civil disobedience, but stressed that those engaging in it would have to face up to the consequences of their actions.
Under the terms of the Hunting Act, hunting with dogs will be banned in England and Wales from February 2005.
