Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to prohibit the sale of badges which promote illegal activity by mounted groups of hunters hunting foxes with dogs; and if she will make an assessment of the prevalence of this activity by (a) the Countryside Alliance and (b) other groups.
The Government is not aware of the sale of any badges promoting illegal activity. If the hon. Member is referring to badges marking the tenth anniversary of the Hunting Act coming into force, it is quite within the rights of organisations such as the Countryside Alliance to promote an activity that can be carried out legally in accordance with the exemptions set out in the Act, and is of economic and social importance to many of our most rural communities.