Friday, December 28, 2012
Hunting ban repeal unlikely next year
Now this is good news, the Western Mail reports on the views of a key Cabinet Minister that nothing will happen in Parliament to set in chain a repeal of the ban on hunting with dogs in England and Wales in 2013. They say that Environment Secretary Owen Paterson does not think he could win such a vote.
Mr Paterson, a keen supporter of country sports including hunting, told the Daily Telegraph: “There’s only a point having a vote if you’re going to win.
“At the moment, it would not be my proposal to bring forward a vote we were going to lose. There needs to be more work done on Members of Parliament.”
He went on: “It is our clear intention to have a free vote but we need to choose an appropriate moment.”
What is interesting is that record numbers are turning out for Boxing Day faux-hunts. However, contrary to the propaganda being put about by the pro-hunt lobby that this indicates large support for the ban to be overturned, it seems that the opposite is true.
People seem more enthusiastic about joining these events when they don't end in an animal being ripped to shreds by dogs. And that is borne out by opinion polls, despite attempts by hunters to argue that the views of those in the country are qualitively more superior to those living in urban areas.
In fact polls show that even amongst country-dwellers the majority favour the ban.
Mr Paterson, a keen supporter of country sports including hunting, told the Daily Telegraph: “There’s only a point having a vote if you’re going to win.
“At the moment, it would not be my proposal to bring forward a vote we were going to lose. There needs to be more work done on Members of Parliament.”
What is interesting is that record numbers are turning out for Boxing Day faux-hunts. However, contrary to the propaganda being put about by the pro-hunt lobby that this indicates large support for the ban to be overturned, it seems that the opposite is true.
People seem more enthusiastic about joining these events when they don't end in an animal being ripped to shreds by dogs. And that is borne out by opinion polls, despite attempts by hunters to argue that the views of those in the country are qualitively more superior to those living in urban areas.
In fact polls show that even amongst country-dwellers the majority favour the ban.
