Could hunting become a protected minority?

The pressure group Hunting Kind has been advised by a leading human rights lawyer that hunts have a case to seek “protected status”. The group has been advised that hunts may qualify as an “ethnic group” and could hold “protected beliefs”, the same status held by gypsies and the LGBTQ+ community. 

Ed Swales, founder and chairman of Hunting Kind, said: “We are doing this because hunting is not just a hobby, it is our way of life, and currently we are looking at the end of that way of life. This has been the only strategy I have seen in the past 20 years to get the law that has been used against us to work in our favour.” 

In a written legal opinion, a King’s Counsel (KC) advised they could legitimately be considered as an ethnic group by dint of their long-shared history, distinct customs and common ancestors. Another option available to the group is to demonstrate a “protected philosophical belief”, lawyers have said. 

In recent years, there have been a number of cases of hunt balls being cancelled after pressure from saboteurs and of hunts being de-banked or refused payment services. Establishing protections under equality laws would mean that people with pro-hunting views could not be discriminated against by employers or by those providing services, including the hospitality and banking sector. 

Any test case would not have any impact on the Hunting Act 2004 brought in by Tony Blair, but it comes at a time when Labour is promising a further crackdown on hunting with a manifesto pledge to ban trail-hunting (News, 5 June). 

Tim Bonner, chief executive of Countryside Alliance, told Shooting Times: “Unfortunately, this will have no impact on the current legal situation for hunting or the Labour Government’s proposal for new legislation. The alliance is focused on ensuring a future for hounds, hunts and the hunting community.” 

A number of groups, including Roma, gypsies and travellers, and LGBTQ+ people — alongside beliefs including religion, pacifism and ethical veganism — already receive protections under equality laws. However, the suggestion that hunting should be a protected belief has already received criticism from animal rights activists, who took to X (formerly Twitter) to label hunters as “barbaric savages”.