Hounds descend on Downing Street in rural protest against Keir Starmer's 'war on British countryside'

The protest coincides with Hounds in the Community week, a national initiative led by the Countryside Alliance and British Hound Sports Association (BHSA).

The initiative, which ends on February 22, is designed to showcase the vital role that hunts and hounds play in their communities.

However, Sir Keir's proposed ban on trail hunting has been described as yet another attack on the countryside after Labour was forced to water down its proposed inheritance tax raid on farmers.

The Countryside Alliance has warned the Prime Minister that he risks fuelling a “toxic culture war on the countryside”.

They told GB News that Sir Keir must repair his relationship with the countryside by legislating for rural communities rather than against them.

Footage of the protest, which has been shared with GB News, showed a group of half a dozen trail hounds in Westminster.

Labour confirmed it was looking to ban trail hunting in England and Wales as part of a new animal welfare strategy published in December.

The practice has remained legal since the 2004 hunting ban came into force because it does not explicitly involve the killing of animals.

However, Sir Keir's 2024 manifesto vowed to outlaw the practice amid concerns it was being used as a "smokescreen" for the hunting of wild animals.

Meanwhile, countryside bodies have warned the move is unnecessary and could hurt rural communities.

Animal Welfare Minister Baroness Hayman previously said: "In our manifesto we said we would ban trail hunting, and that's exactly what we'll do.

"There are concerns that trail hunting is being used a smokescreen for the hunting of wild animals, and that's not acceptable.

"We are working out the best approach to take the ban forward and will run a consultation to seek views in the new year."

However, Tory Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake called the ban an "attack on rural Britain and British culture", accusing Labour of "punishing the law-abiding majority who support legal trail hunting".

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage also described Labour as "authoritarian control freaks".

A YouGov poll conducted in December 2025 found that 50 per cent of Britons support a trail hunting ban.

Meanwhile, just 29 per cent of Britons want to keep the traditional practice.

However, another poll released at the same time found that 65 per cent of people believe Labour is neglecting Britain's countryside community, fuelling fears of a Reform surge in rural constituencies.

Speaking to GB News at a Boxing Day hunt in Oxfordshire, Chipping Norton local Amy Aldworth said: "I've got 26 horses in my care, all trail hunting horses, and I do not know what I'm going to do with them.

"It makes me feel sick to think that I'm going to have to turf horses out, turf people out.

"The devastation it's going to cause for working people in the countryside is just heartbreaking. It really, really is heartbreaking."

Despite trail hunting already being banned in Scotland, hunting with dogs remains legal in Northern Ireland.