Today, Members of Parliament were set to vote on an amendment to the 2004 Hunting Act, which would loosen the restrictions around fox hunting. The vote on this amendment has since been postponed after Cameron learned that the 56 strong group of newly elected Scottish Nationalist MPs decided to vote against it, creating a minute constitutional crisis. This has made the amendment almost impossible to pass, and the likelihood of the Conservatives delivering on their Manifesto promise to repeal the ban entirely very slim.
Nicola Sturgeon – Scotland’s First Minister and Leader of the SNP – claimed that this showed how ‘David Cameron can’t control his own Parliamentary group’ and that his government is based on a ‘slender and fragile’ majority. She’s right, with a majority of only 12 MPs Cameron is going to face a lot of difficulties over the next five years, considering he has had to run from both a vote on this proposed amendment, as well as the proposal for a vote on English votes for English laws, which instead became a ‘consultative debate’.
However, for many people the government’s inability to pass this amendment, due to both the SNP and some rebel Tory MPs, is great news. In almost every poll conducted, the majority of the British public supported the ban on Fox Hunting, with results ranging from 51% to 76% over the last few years. The trend even continues in rural areas. Animal Welfare groups are hesitant to be too celebratory though, knowing that ministers are likely waiting for what they consider the most politically opportune moment to reintroduce the amendment, to make it easier to pass.
Putting yet more pressure on the government to keep the amendment shelved, Tom Quinn, Campaigns Director for League Against Cruel Sports said this: “Increasing numbers of MPs from all parties now oppose re-introducing bloodsports and the government has recognised that public opinion is overwhelmingly against hunting. So it would be a mistake for the Government to return to this issue in the future, and any attempts to repeal the Hunting Act by the back door would clearly be wrong.”
This amendment being postponed should be good news, but what is perhaps the more salient issue is the fact that fox hunting is still happening. Far too few people get arrested for it, and those that do (considering the relative affluence the participants tend to benefit from) are made to pay very small fines. In 2010, when a terriersman for the Ullswater Foxhounds was filmed beating a fox to death with a stick – he was fined £250 and ordered to pay £900 in costs. This helps cement the idea that somehow, because the Conservative government and some members of the judiciary are familiar with the world of fox hunting, and of the kind of people who go fox hunting, it is treated differently to other cases of animal cruelty.
What is the point in demanding that the government not introduce a wrecking amendment, or repeal the bill all together, when there is little to no pressure on the government to actually crack down on the offence? In the eleven years since the bill passed there have been only 340 convictions, which many believe to not nearly reflect the true extent to which fox hunting occurs.
If, as it seems, the amendment will fail, it will not be enough just to consign this debate to the history books. Quite the contrary, those who truly care about animal welfare should continue to fight for the law to both be enforced, and perhaps even to be tightened further.
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