Five years after first making a manifesto promise to give the pro-hunting lobby a free vote in parliament, David Cameron will make good on his words this week. The hunting ban has been good business for the Conservative leadership. The promise of a free vote in 2010 helped mobilise hunting supporters to deliver leaflets and campaign to oust Labour members of parliament. Cameron repeated the promise again this year with more hunt supporters helping to deliver votes on the ground.
The only surprise is how quickly the prime minister has moved on the issue, using a little-known statutory instrument to undermine the ban and limit the debate in the House of Commons. But let’s be clear: the bureaucratic-sounding Hunting Act 2004 (Exempt Hunting) (Amendment) Order would end the hunting ban as we know it. The order would allow the resumption of hunting with packs of dogs as long as it is ‘appropriate’, thereby dressing up a return to this blood sport in the false language of wildlife management.
Here’s the worrying thing: Despite the attempt to detoxify the Conservative brand, despite the government’s attempt to reoccupy the middle ground of British politics, Cameron and George Osborne believe that hunting is the right thing for the country. They owe a pound of fox flesh to their supporters in the pro-blood sport brigade, and this is their chance to settle that debt.
Ten years on from the hunting ban coming into force, this is the most serious threat to it. The Conservative leadership would prefer to repeal the ban outright, bringing back not just fox-hunting but also other so-called blood sports, such as hare-coursing. The thing is that they know outright repeal is less likely to succeed.
The ban remains popular with the British public despite ongoing efforts to undermine it by the Conservative leadership and hunting lobby. The hunting ban brought together the great British affection for wildlife and disdain for cruelty dressed up as sport. It has been great to see the public rise up to defend the hunting ban, lobbying their MPs, taking to social media and writing to local papers. Not everyone in the Conservative party agrees with Cameron and Osborne. Up-and-coming ministers, like Tracey Crouch, may have been promoted following the election but they will still be voting against any changes to the ban on Wednesday. I hope that many of her colleagues listen to their constituents and also vote to keep the ban.
The country faces huge challenges, as do rural communities, but the ban on hunting is not one of them. Rural communities need better broadband, investment in decent jobs, help to protect social care and public transport in smaller towns and villages. Young people need more affordable housing in rural areas and access to further education. Farmers need a cut to red tape and help to boost production against difficult market conditions. None of them need the return of fox-hunting or hare-coursing. Imagine what a difference groups like the Countryside Alliance could really make if they took all their energy from lobbying for a return to fox-hunting and put it into defending rural bus services or protecting local shops?
The vote on the hunting ban shows the worst of Conservative party in action. Emboldened from their election victory, using a little-known parliamentary tactic, and ignoring the real issues facing rural areas, the Conservative leadership is determined to reward its supporters in the hunting lobby. Labour has a long and proud tradition of protecting and supporting animal welfare. On Wednesday, it will be Labour MPs leading the defence of the hunting ban. Let’s hope they succeed.
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Andrew Pakes is former parliamentary candidate for Milton Keynes South. He tweets @andrew4mk
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Fox hunting is an emotive issue . If Labour had used the Tories threat of lifting the ban ,as an election issue and thoroughly highlighted it ,we would probably have won the election . It is typical of the great and good of the Labour Party and Progress ,that they simply could not see this .
Or were they doing the usual trick of trying to placate the rich and powerful ,and ignore their core voters in both town and country ?
I, along with millions of Grey Vote National Trust/CPRE, RSPB, etc. members are in despair at the countryside’s devastation by the Tories’ rampant housing developments. It DID save their political skins by fuelling unsustainable, pseudo “growth.” However, where are the Labour politicians who are opposed to this policy? Andrew Pakes [part of the Progress elite] , for example, bangs on about the relatively minor issue of fox hunting, but says nothing about the destructive and long lasting Tory policies. Yet he stood in a Milton Keynes constituency where there is (seemingly) uncontrolled house building and (just down the road) in the once sleepy little town of Bicester. Thousands of acres of green fields are being concreted over. But then he probably goes along with the policy in the mistaken belief that house prices will fall!!! [a view voiced to me by young, inexperienced career politicians]. NO THEY WON’Tt! Not by much, anyway, even WHEN the price rise bubble bursts because they are largely being bought by long term investors.
Added to this Tories [and their councils] are carpet bagging public assets, selling them off to their rich mates.This is going on all over the country, especially in the SE where de facto Garden cities are being created (e.g. Crawley/Horsham; Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill and surrounding villages [e.g. Ditchling] which are all likely to link up, in time).
Many of us in the Grey Vote have had the best years, but we are deeply concerned about the legacy left to our children/grandchildren. If Labour picked up THIS batten, there might be millions of votes in it!!!
Vic Parks is my real name if Andrew wants to reply! [email protected]