October 2009
Hunt supporters in new clash with Tories over repeal of ban
Telegraph
10th October 2009
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Countryside campaigners have warned of a “firestorm” if the Conservatives fail to force through a flagship government bill to overthrow the controversial ban.
They fear that David Cameron is close to reneging on a promise he made last year to throw the full weight of a future Tory Government behind the repeal the Hunting Act which makes it illegal to hunt with dogs.
Senior Tory figures have told The Sunday Telegraph that the major change in party policy is under active consideration by the shadow cabinet. They fear that a new Conservative government could find itself bogged down in parliament if it tried to force through the legislation.
But the suggestion of a change in policy has caused deep concern among countryside and hunting campaigners.
One leading hunt supporter said: “There will be a firestorm if it is not a government bill.”
Hunt supporters have been pouring into marginal seats to help Conservative candidates campaign. Many could withdraw their support if they do not believe the Conservative leader is fully committed to a bill that will work.
When an aide of Mr Cameron hinted to journalists last year that hunting would not be a priority, several major donors threatened to withdraw millions of pounds of party funding.
The Sunday Telegraph has learnt that the shadow cabinet is considering using a private member’s bill instead of a government bill, to overthrow the ban.
Campaigners fear that the bill could be vulnerable to wrecking amendments from anti-hunt campaigners and could run out of time.
The shadow cabinet member in charge of hunting last night confirmed that the party was considering the move. Nick Herbert, the shadow environment secretary, said: “We are working up various options about how we will do repeal.
“We will give time for a vote on repeal but we have also said we don’t intend to waste parliamentary time on this. We haven’t said what form repeal would take in terms of a bill.”
He added: “I’m aware of the distinction between a private member’s bill and a government bill but I don’t think it is sensible to rule out options.”
Mr Herbert said it was unlikely that the manifesto would spell out how the bill would be piloted and would simply repeat the pledge to offer MPs “a free vote”.
One frontbencher involved in negotiations over planned Tory legislation said: “It’s better if this is a private member’s bill.” The senior MP said the party might also take hare coursing out of the repeal bill so that the practice of chasing a hare with dogs purely for sport, which is seen as more controversial than foxhunting, remained illegal.
Dropping a Government bill would break a promise Mr Cameron made in February last year. He said: “We have a very clear position on this. There will be a free vote, and if there is a vote to repeal the hunting ban there will be a government bill in government time,” he said.
A spokesman for the Countryside Alliance said: “The commitment to a free vote has been clear since the last Conservative manifesto and David Cameron himself has talked about that leading to a government bill in government time. We think this is the most open and sensible route for getting rid of what everyone accepts is a ridiculously bad piece of legislation and any other option is likely only to complicate what should be a straightforward process.”
Don't break the pledge on hunting
Telegraph
11th October 2009
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David Cameron appears to be toying with the idea of reneging on his promise to introduce as a Government Bill a measure repealing the Hunting Act, which makes it an offence to go hunting with dogs. We can understand the arguments in favour of that move: the country faces a terrible fiscal crisis that must be the government's first priority; there is a desperate need to unstitch incompetent or mistaken Labour policies on vital matters such as defence, health, and the welfare system; and the Cameron team is desperate to avoid giving ammunition to those who label its members "Tory toffs".
Yet to listen to these siren voices would be a grievous error. It is not just that the Hunting Act was a thoroughly bad measure, motivated by class envy, which has proved utterly unworkable in practice. It is not even because those living in the country are strongly against the measure, which they rightly regard as a symbol of the neglect of and hostility towards the countryside prevalent on the Labour benches (overwhelmingly populated by urbanites). It is that the ban is one of the most egregious examples of Labour's authoritarian determination to prevent ordinary people from living their lives in the ways they choose.
For the Tory leadership to break its pledge would send a signal that the new administration was happy to live with a far greater degree of meddling in the private lives of ordinary citizens than millions of us find tolerable. Indeed, it will be in the hope of electing a more tolerant, less restrictive government that many people will vote Conservative at the next election. They will feel profoundly let down if the hunting ban is consigned to the lottery of the private members' ballot. Mr Cameron should keep his promise to have a Government Bill in Government time.
A case of the unspeakable in pursuit of the doubtful
The Independent
11th October 2009
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Small wet noses poke expectantly from identical rows of circular holes in the side of an oversized lorry parked in the middle of a field in the Surrey countryside. From deeper inside the lorry come the neighing of horses and the high-pitched chatter of their owners.
At the sound of the lorry opening, my heart sinks. In moments, a pack of dogs and ranks of thoroughbred horses (with even more thoroughbred owners) emerge to take part in a sport that divides Britain.
Tweed-clad people all around me continue as if nothing has happened, but my stomach clenches. Only one thing frightens me more than dogs, and that is the horses they accompany. The combination is nothing short of hell. No doubt their owners consider all these stamping hooves and wagging tails mere exuberance. But my worst fears are realised as slavering hounds begin to rub against my legs and an angry mare kicks out dangerously near my head.
It is the first day of Newcomers' Week, a recruitment drive by the Countryside Alliance to get more people on side with the scarlet-coated pursuit. At the Surrey Union hunt, in a field not far from Guildford, there is an atmosphere of excitement: the expectation of a brave new world.
Last week was a good week for hunting. On Tuesday, to the delight of the party faithful, David Cameron dubbed the 2004 Hunting Act which banned the killing of foxes by hounds "a farce", and announced he would be holding a free vote in the Commons to repeal it. He even admitted to a crime more heinous than puffing a joint as a teenager: he has indulged in the national sport of toffs. "I have taken part in a number of rural sports, including hunting," he confessed to the Today programme, adding with a stammer, "but not for several years." Before he had had the chance to explain he hadn't inhaled, the damage had been done.
Nigel Morland shares none of Mr Cameron's discomfort with country pursuits. In a tweed jacket, checked shirt and a yellow tie covered in cartoon foxes and hounds, the 54-year-old accountant is the perfect caricature of the gent who rides to hounds. He cuts the sort of figure you can imagine pinned to the dartboards of animal rights campaigners.
"It's great news that there could be a vote," he says, in a voice so loud I have to retreat six feet. "I just think the current ban is rather stupid."
He is one of about 70 riders who gather in Surrey. The bumf from the alliance promises "thousands of people" will be going to meets around the country to try hunting for the first time this week. Plainly they're congregating elsewhere. At our conclave, only 10 or so of the people on horseback are not regulars.
Chantelle Evans, 19, is one of the genuine newcomers and a public relations dream for the hunt. For a start, she is the only person who is not white. The bonus is she is also not from the generations of privilege that have made the sport so hated. She works as a groom in her local stables near Reigate and has come with her mum, Julie, who is a carer for the elderly.
Putting on a velvet-trimmed riding cap, she says: "I've never hunted before, but that's partly because until recently I didn't have a horse." In answer to questions about the way hunting is perceived, or the problems people might have with it, she is shy, simply saying she is "excited about going along for the first time".
Penny Wilson is master of the hunt for the day. "There's no fox today," she says. "The farmers get the foxes and shoot them; then the entrails are put into a bag that we call a jollop, which we drag along for scent." Noting my grimace at the carnage in this supposedly "animal-friendly" hunting, she adds, a mite huffily, "It's perfectly legal: we're allowed to shoot them but we're not allowed to hunt them."
Charlie Thomas from Berkshire is the first whipper-in. "I make sure all the hounds are in line," the 27-year-old explains, calming his horse. The hunt is ready. A blast of the horn is swiftly followed by the thunder of hooves and the chase is on. They gallop past plane trees, the unspeakable in pursuit of the invisible.
Even some of the participants agree that the lack of live prey is a good thing. Debbie Wanbon, with two of her three children taking part in yesterday's hunt, says, "I have great reservations about chasing a fox. I only take part because now it's a scent. I'm happy for it to be as it is. People seem to enjoy it, so why take the law backwards?"
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