Gt Yorks Show video: Hunting with hounds: ‘We are envy of the world’

In a week in which so many in the countryside were let down by the Government’s enforced postponement of the free vote on the Hunting Act, it was perhaps inevitable that the display of hounds would prove so emotive and poignant.
The parade of hounds in the main ring at the  Great Yorkshire Show in HarrogateThe parade of hounds in the main ring at the  Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate
The parade of hounds in the main ring at the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate

Taking to the Main Ring in a display bristling with pride, the show announcer could not help being caught up in the emotion.

“When it comes to hunting wioth hounds we are the envy of the world,” he said. “Because so much of our countryside has been established through hutning over the genrations.

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“The woods, the fields, the fences, all have been formed as part of our countryside and of course it varies the length and breadth of the country.

The parade of hounds in the main ring at the  Great Yorkshire Show in HarrogateThe parade of hounds in the main ring at the  Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate
The parade of hounds in the main ring at the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate

“We have got three packs of hounds for you, all of cource from Yorkshire, a county which has tremendous strength within our hunting scene.”

Earlier this week David Cameron was forced to postpone a vote on relaxing the ban when the Scottish National Party decided to oppose the move.

The controversial vote, scheduled for Wednesday, would have brought the law south of the border in line with that in Scotland, where an unlimited number of dogs can be used to “flush out” a fox to be shot, compared with just two in England and Wales.

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But the SNP’s 56 MPs agreed to break with their normal practice of not voting on England-only matters and join Labour in opposing the proposal.

Together with a number of anti-hunting Conservative MPs, who have been granted a free vote on the issue, this was expected to be enough to block the change.

Nicola Sturgeon directly linked her party’s move to the Government’s plans for “English votes for English laws”.