The Feed

Trail Hunting and Nigel Farage’s Latest Dress-Up Act

As Labour signals plans to ban trail hunting, arguing it is routinely used to circumvent the foxhunting ban, Nigel Farage has emerged as a vocal defender of the practice. The article examines the origins of trail hunting as a post-2004 workaround, the evidence that it has blurred into illegal hunting, and Farage’s role in recasting the issue as a symbolic fight over rural identity. It argues that his involvement prioritises performance and spectacle over legal clarity or animal welfare, turning a question of enforcement into another exercise in political dress-up.

Nigel Farage has thrown his support behind trail hunting as the government moves to close what critics say is a long-standing loophole in the foxhunting ban. His intervention leans heavily on imagery and identity, framing a legal question about animal welfare as a cultural battle over the countryside.

UK legislation that prohibits the hunting of wild mammals with dogs in England and Wales, forming the legal basis for ongoing debates around enforcement and loopholes.