A giant fox is running against Andy Burnham in the Makerfield by-election

What does the fox say? That he wants to be the next MP of Makerfield in Manchester, apparently.

Animal rights campaigner Robert Pownall is hoping to beat Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham in the upcoming by-election.

The founder of Protect the Wild threw his hat into the ring on Thursday and plans to wear a giant, furry fox suit while out campaigning – and if and when he takes his seat in Parliament.

Writing on the newsletter service Substack, Ponwall admitted that his costume is a tad ‘terrifying looking’.

But he’s throwing the fox suit on for a simple reason: ‘Because I simply do not trust this government to deliver for animals.’

‘They’ve already u-turned on banning animal trophy imports, abandoned plans to ban foie gras imports and allowed two more years of badger culling despite manifesto promises suggesting the exact opposite.’

Pownall added that the government has launched a consultation to close loopholes in the Hunting Act.

Hunting is not illegal in England – shooting deer, rabbits and some other animals is allowed during hunting seasons – but fox hunting is banned.

But campaigners have long criticised the law for allowing trail hunting, where dogs follow a laid scent trail, usually of fox urine, instead of a fox.

Often, campaigners say, hunters claim they have left ‘scent trails’ and are merely following them through the woods with hounds.

Pownall said that despite pledges to remove this loophole, there is ‘no clarity’ on whether changes to the law will end hunting wild animals.

‘We cannot afford to sit back, hope for the best, and allow this issue to quietly fade away,’ he added.

‘This by-election provides a national platform to raise these concerns, to pressure the government to finally end hunting as quickly as possible, and to send that message directly to the man who could become the next Prime Minister.’

But ‘next Prime Minister’, Pownall means Burnham, who is hoping to fill the seat left by Labour MP Josh Simons, who stepped down earlier this month.

Burnham being elected as an MP is a key step in the long road to becoming prime minister, a role that Keir Starmer is facing calls to resign from after his party’s disastrous results in the local elections.

Pownall is no stranger to politics – or sweaty animal suits. He stood in the May Scottish parliament elections dressed as a giant gannet. 

He threw on the seabird suit to bring attention to the guga hunt, a centuries-old tradition in northern Scotland that sees thousands of gannets being killed for their meat.

The ceremony, which takes place every year on the remote rocky island of Sula Sgeir, is permitted by a little-known exemption in Scottish law.

Protect the Wild said in a blog post earlier this month: ‘Only a few months ago, it felt like hardly anyone knew that the Guga hunt was happening in Scotland.

‘But our election campaign has received widespread media coverage that has propelled it into the spotlight.’

After people flocked to the polls, however, Ponwall failed to win the Edinburgh Central seat.

He scored just 41 votes, losing to Green candidate Lorna Slater.

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