More than 91,000 people have urged the Government to drop its proposed ban on trail hunting, according to campaigners who say rural communities have sent a “clear message” to Westminster.

The response was submitted to the Government’s 12-week consultation, which closed earlier this month.

As well as the Countryside Alliance, rural organisations including the Jockey Club, the National Farmers Union, the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), the Farmers Union of Wales, and various veterinary and farriery associations also submitted responses to the consultation.

The Government’s 12-week consultation on its proposed ban on trail hunting closed at midnight on June 18. Campaigners have suggested it was one of the largest consultation responses ever received by Defra in modern times, surpassing even the 2011 badger cull consultation, which received around 65,000 submissions.

Trail hunting is where hounds follow a pre-laid animal-based scent across the countryside, mimicking traditional hunting. It became popular in the UK after the Hunting Act 2004 became law, as an alternative to traditional fox hunting.

It comes amid wider tensions between government and rural communities, with campaigners pointing to a series of policies and proposals they say have placed pressure on the countryside. These include what has been dubbed the “Family Farm Tax”, increases in business rates affecting rural pubs and hospitality venues, and proposals to restrict game shooting.

Just last month, a mass crowd gathered outside the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) offices in Westminster, with a banner bearing the slogan “hands off the countryside”, ahead of the consultation closing.

With a change in government leadership on the horizon, rural campaigners are urging Labour MPs and Sir Keir Starmer’s successor as Prime Minister to use the opportunity to reset relations with rural communities, and end what they describe as a “toxic culture war on the countryside”.

Tim Bonner, Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance, said:"At the 2024 General Election, many rural voters gave Labour the benefit of the doubt and lent their support to Keir Starmer - the result was a record number of rural Labour seats. But within months, that new hope was crushed by a barrage of anti-rural government policies, such as the Family Farm Tax, attacks on game shooting, and the proposed ban on trail hunting.

"It's not too late to reset the relationship, however. By stopping the toxic culture war on the countryside, putting an end to the prejudiced and unjustified attacks on the rural way of life, and legislating for rural communities, not against them, the 'bond of respect' that Starmer once promised to renew between government and countryside, can perhaps be restored."

Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman, who leads on hunting for the National Police Chiefs’ Council, has previously said he believes trail hunting provides a smokescreen. He said it “gives people the opportunity to carry on hunting - as they always said they would when the ban came in 20 years ago”.

It is expected to be several weeks before the Government publishes its formal response to the consultation.