'Tip of the iceberg!' Nigel Farage hits out at Labour for 'attack' on rural Christmas tradition
'Tip of the iceberg!' Nigel Farage hits out at Labour for 'attack' on rural Christmas tradition
GB News
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has launched a scathing attack on Labour's plans to ban trail hunting, branding it an "attack on rural communities".
The MP suggested the hunting issue was just "the tip of the iceberg" in what he sees as Labour's broader assault on rural life.
Speaking to GB News, Farage criticised Labour's potential move to outlaw the practice, which emerged as an alternative after fox hunting was banned 20 years ago.
He said: "20 years ago the Hunting Act went through abolishing fox hunting.
Nigel Farage said that this is the "top of the ice berg"
GB News
"This is survived through trail hunting. We've now got a Labour Government saying they might even want to ban trail hunting. I mean, you might as well ban people riding horses."
He added: "I think hunting is frankly the tip of the iceberg. And we've got the attack on the small farm.
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"There is no question that the calculations over the number of family farms that would have to be sold off are completely out of kilter with reality.
"There's also a plan for Government reorganisation. So mostly we have a county council and a district council, and the district council is obviously in areas like this, they cover rural concerns for rural communities. Things like buses, phone connectivity, uniquely rural problems."
He explained: "We hear a lot about two-tier Britain. Well, this is very two-tier.
"If you're in the big cities, you matter if you're living out in villages like this, increasingly it feels like you don't.
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Trail hunting is a Boxing Day tradition
PA"I do think and we've seen the farming protest taking off around the country, peaceful farming protests. I do think you're going to get Labour MPs representing these seats feeling very twitchy."
His comments come as hunts gather across the country for traditional Boxing Day meets, amid growing pressure over the future of trail hunting.
Trail hunting involves laying a scent across the countryside for hounds and riders to follow, introduced as an alternative after fox hunting was banned in 2004.
Labour, which introduced the original Hunting Act, has pledged in its manifesto to ban trail hunting as part of its animal welfare measures.
The Government has confirmed its support for such a ban, with a Defra spokesperson stating: "We are committed to a ban on trail hunting, which is being exploited as a smokescreen to cruelly kill foxes and hares."
Nigel Farage joined hunters for the Christmas tradition
GB News
The spokesman added that the Government was elected on a mandate to introduce "the most ambitious animal welfare plans in a generation".
Anti-hunting campaigners have been urging the government to deliver on its promise, claiming the current practice enables illegal activity.
Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, has warned that changes to trail hunting laws are "completely unjustified".
He accused parts of the Labour Party of playing politics based on "perceived class and prejudice".
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