Bedford Borough Council has been criticised after awarding the Oakley Hunt £10,000 as a small business grant.
The tax-payer funded handout was revealed as part of a freedom of information request (FOI) made by the anti-hunting organisation Keep the Ban.
In the request, the founder of Keep the Ban, Robert Pownall, asked: “This is taxpayers money going towards helping a registered hunt and I would like to know if any money has been granted via the small business grant fund.”
The FOI confirmed that the council had awarded Oakley Hunt £10,000.
In a statement, Mr Pownall admitted that the grant was in line with government eligibility criteria for these grants which were created to help small businesses during the pandemic.
But he added that Keep the Ban did not believe taxpayers’ money should be used to subsidise fox hunting.
“Families across the country are suffering incredible hardship and having to make tough sacrifices due to Covid-19,” he said.
“Why are hard-working people now being made to subsidise hunts? Taxpayers money should be going to help local people, not funnelled into the pockets of those who go out to kill wildlife.”
However, in a statement, a spokesperson from Oakley Hunt argued that the money was protecting jobs and supporting countryside management.
“All rateable businesses that met the specific conditions for funding were given grants under the scheme which was welcomed by the hunt and enabled our professional hunt staff to maintain high standards of animal welfare throughout this incredibly difficult period,” they said.
Keep the Ban have put in similar FOI requests to every council in the country and claim that over £200,000 has been granted to hunts due to their status as small businesses.
“The vast majority of people in Britain want foxhunting to remain illegal,” added Mr Pownall.
“It is shocking that money supposed to help struggling businesses survive is being handed to hunts in order to support their sadistic activities.”
Commenting on the grant, a Bedford Borough Council spokesperson said: “All companies and organisations that received Government grant payments did so based on the criteria of the scheme that they applied for.
“The Council distributed this Government funding to companies and organisations in line with Government criteria and guidance.”
