Ben Wallace claims hunters victim of 'two-tiered' policingYet another desperate bid to deflect attention away from hunting's crimes
Fervent hunt supporter Ben Wallace, a former defence secretary in the Conservative government, has hit out at the policing of fox hunting. Now a hunting industry official, his bid to portray hunters as victims of 'two-tiered' policing reeks of desperation.Wallace, who is on the British Hound Sports Association (BHSA) board, has used right-wing rag The Times to blast top police officer Matt Longman - the National Police Chiefs Lead on Fox Hunting Crime who said earlier this year about fox hunting crime that it was ‘Possibly one of the most farcical eras in criminal justice history'. Wallace wrote that Longman "should be removed" and instead of answering whether he agreed with Longman's comments about illegal hunting being "prolific", he tried to paint hunt saboteurs as the bad guys. His comments come just days after the announcement that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has not issued trail hunting licences for the 2024/25 season. This news will have grated on Wallace, who went out of his way to protect hunting on MOD land when he was Defence Secretary. The belligerent Tory will also be reeling from the BHSA's National Trail Hunting Day failure. This was a PR stunt that took place on 14 September, and which was largely mocked as 'Smokescreen Saturday' and ignored by the very people it aimed to attract: Labour politicians, journalists and the police. Longman refused to attend - irritating Wallace even more. 'He should be removed'Ridiculously, Wallace told The Times:
He continued:
This ploy, to paint those saving foxes as villains, is a well-worn tactic used by a hunting industry that tries constantly to deflect scrutiny away from itself.
'He is a joke'Protect the Wild chatted to Salisbury Plain Monitors, a group that has spent countless hours monitoring the Royal Artillery Hunt hunting on MOD land on Salisbury Plain. The pack was protected by Wallace when he was Defence Secretary. The group said:
Salisbury Plain Monitors continued:
'Levelling that playing field'Until recently hunters have largely succeeded in getting away with killing wildlife - with police forces either looking the other way, or not showing up when hunting meets take place. The tide turned somewhat in 2021 after infamous fox hunter Mark Hankinson, ex-director of the Masters of Foxhounds Association, was found guilty of encouraging people to evade the hunting ban. More hunters began to be investigated and prosecuted, while in 2023, Longman admitted that not only is fox hunting "prolific", but that the police have “much more to do” in tackling it. In his latest rant, Wallace has accused Longman of writing off "whole communities". Longman responded, telling The Times:
We need an urgent change of lawLongman told The Times that there were 15 charges of hunting activity between April 2023 and March 2024. This is progress, but police and the CPS are still not doing enough and the Hunting Act needs urgently replacing. Protect the Wild's annual report, A Case for a Proper Ban on Hunting, shows that there were hundreds of incidents of foxes being chased during the 2023/24 season. Key statistics from the report include:
Longman told The Times:
He continued:
Before getting into power, Keir Starmer vowed to strengthen the Act and abolish the trail hunting loophole. Protect the Wild argues that the government can go a significant step further by scrapping the law completely and replacing it with the Hunting of Mammals Bill. Drafted by Advocates for Animals, the Bill would stop hunting in its tracks if it was introduced into law.You can read the proposed Bill here and sign the petition calling for a PROPER ban on hunting here
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