Hunters halt campaign to overturn ban

The Scottish Countryside Alliance will this week announce it has called a halt to its 500,000 appeal, as campaigners in England and Wales prepare to challenge the hunting bill passed by MPs last week.

The SCA said it has finally accepted that the ban does not infringe the human rights of the hunting community and therefore can no longer continue to be challenged under human rights law.

But animal welfare campaigners last night claimed the dramatic U-turn is more likely to have been made to allow the pro-hunt lobby to channel its resources into a much bigger legal fight in England’s courts. And they predicted that the end of the legal fight in Scotland would signal an end to Scotland’s limited hunting activities altogether.

Last week MPs voted overwhelmingly for an all-out hunting ban, which goes far further than the law passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2002.

The SCA was set to appeal to the Privy Council, the final court of appeal in the UK. But yesterday it said it was ending its fight, following several months of consultation with members.

Allan Murray, director of the SCA’s Campaign for Hunting and Equestrian Sports, said: "This decision was agreed after lengthy consultation and in recognition of the fact that hunts in Scotland are continuing to operate successfully within the bounds of the new law."

Last night it was claimed that several Scots or individuals linked to Scotland were among those bankrolling attempts by the Countryside Alliance south of the Border to stop an all-out fox-hunting ban.

A newspaper reported that,

according to figures contained in leaked Countryside Alliance documents, the Duke of Buccleuch had donated "at least" 750,000 in the past four years. The Duke of Sutherland, the newspaper claimed, had donated 1,000, and Sir Jackie Stewart, 5,000.