Local woman fronts hunting campaign (From Western Telegraph)

Local woman fronts hunting campaign

A black Pembrokeshire huntswoman fronting the latest Countryside Alliance pro-hunting campaign has attacked so-called class prejudice against people who hunt.

Sarah, who lives in Redberth and has ridden with the South Pembrokeshire Hunt for five years, insisted: "We are not all titled toffs."

Her face will appear on billboards across London with a message focusing on prejudice and discrimination.

Sarah, a 30-year-old mother who manages a restaurant in Saundersfoot, suggests class is the real issue why MPs want to ban hunting. "Labour MPs seem to want to ban hunting because of the type of people they think do it - it's got nothing to do with animal welfare or the countryside,'' she claimed.

Sarah travelled to London with local members of the Countryside Alliance on Thursday to launch the advertising campaign in Parliament Square. She had been taken aback by the level of interest in the campaign. "My telephone hasn't stopped ringing. This is an issue that a lot of people feel very strongly about.''

She admitted she knew few black people who hunted but, in her experience, hunting people came from all walks of life. "Hopefully, my protest will highlight the prejudice and discrimination of the MPs who are attacking the hunting community. They would never behave like this towards any other minority.''

But one of those politicians Sarah refers to, her own MP, Nick Ainger, described the claim as 'nonsense'. "I sat through 70 hours of debate during the committee stage of the Hunting Bill and class was not an issue that was raised,'' he said.

"The real issue is that hunting is cruel and the aim is to end that cruelty. Quite frankly, this type of argument being put forward by the Countryside Alliance shows the lack of evidence to support their case. This level of debate shows how desperate they are.''