'If there's nothing to hide, why can't it be shared?' - questions continue over 'secret protocol' between Warwickshire Police and Warwickshire Hunt

The 'secret protocol' between Warwickshire Police and Warwickshire Hunt might be coming to an end - but calls for it to be made public are still not going away.

Matt Western, MP for Warwick and Leamington, is continuing to push for answers, and this week he presented a petition in Parliament urging once again for the protocol to be made public.

In addition to bringing the issue to Parliament, he has written letters to Warwickshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Philip Seccombe, and the Chief Constable of Warwickshire Police, Debbie Tedds. He says he remains “deeply concerned by the utter lack of transparency” surrounding this issue.

Warwickshire Police have come under fire in recent months after they dropped a proposed road safety order against the hunt and instead signed a protocol with Warwickshire Hunt which was never made public.Read more: Cover-up claim made by MP as 'secret protocol' between police and Warwickshire Hunt will be replaced with new public 'code of behaviour'We have been shining a light on this issue for many months and the MP has been a long-standing campaigner against the protocol.

But the issue was projecetd onto the national spotlight following a recent Channel 4 News broadcast which showed footage of Warwickshire Hunt causing significant disruption to local roads including one video where an ambulance is forced to stop due to hounds on the road.

It was revealed last Wednesday (March 20) in an update from Warwickshire Police that the “protocol that was in place with the Warwickshire Hunt for the 2023/24 season to address road safety concerns has now concluded”.

In a letter to Chief Constable Tedds this month, Matt Western expressed his disbelief and demanded the protocol be made public arguing that “if there is nothing to hide, why can the protocol not be shared?”.

This letter follows several previous letters the MP has sent to the Police and Crime Commissioner, Mr Seccombe, the Chief Constable and the Home Secretary pressing for greater transparency. He says despite sending numerous letters, he has hit many dead ends.

Following the announcement that the protocol has now concluded, Mr Western stated that this is not a “case closed” and “significant questions still remain to be answered.”

He said: “Policing is vital to our communities and so is public trust in our police. The police’s job becomes significantly harder when public trust in the service is damaged. I know how hard ordinary officers at Warwickshire Police work, and they deserve huge respect for the work they do.

"But I remain deeply concerned that the lack of transparency in this case is damaging this public trust in our police force. The right thing to do remains to share the protocol and shed some light on this issue.

"I have sent numerous letters to the Chief Constable, the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Home Secretary and they are all asking me to ‘move along - nothing to see here’. I have now had to raise the issue in Parliament in the hope we will get the answers we deserve.

"It has been deeply disappointing not to see our elected Police and Crime Commissioner - whose role it is to hold the police to account - not asking these questions. The public rightly expect him to take their concerns seriously and ask the questions they want answers to. I don’t believe we are seeing this from Mr Seccombe.”

Warwickshire Police have been approached for a comment on the latest comments by Mr Western. They directed us to last week's statement, which said: “Before the start of the 2024/25 season, we will publish a public code of behaviour setting out the expectations on anyone taking part in trail hunting activities in the county and to ensure we keep all members of our communities safe.

“We will continue to balance the rights of residents, those who wish to legally trail hunt and those who wish to legally protest.

“We look forward to working positively with all interested parties during the 2024/25 season.”The police also said they received four reports of criminal offences against Warwickshire Hunt.

“One of these is now with the Crown Prosecution Service for a charging decision and the other three are minor offences with the investigations due to conclude in the next few weeks."