A NORTH farmer is claiming a victory for the right of wild game shooters in the region after the European Parliament agreed to let them sell their catches to local butchers.

MEP Robert Goodwill, the Conservative environment spokesman in Europe, who farms near York, led negotiations for a number of exemptions to controversial European legislation on hunting.

The European Parliament report on shooting had originally called for all wild game to be subject to veterinary and health inspections before it was sold to local butchers, markets or restaurants.

The ruling would have meant that every shoot or hunting party would have to employ a vet or qualified health inspector to check all game after it had been shot.

The report has drawn heated exchanges between MEPs on the European Parliament's environment committee, with Labour MEP Philip Whitehead branding people who shot wild game as "flabby businessmen turning out on English landed estates".

Yesterday, Mr Goodwill hailed the amendments as a victory, which is likely to further the political battle between Labour and Tory MEPs on the issue.

He said: "This report showed that Brussels has lost none of its enthusiasm for regulating every aspect of people's working and leisure practices, and that Labour MEPs are of exactly the same mindset.

"Plans to insist all shoots had qualified vets and health inspectors would drive many out of business at a time when the countryside needs every income stream available.

"Philip Whitehead's comments really give the game away and show that this misguided legislation has everything to do with simmering class war and nothing to do with benefiting the countryside or consumers."