Cameron Promises Hunting Act Repeal

Today, traditional hunts across the country have marked the second anniversary of the Hunting Act 2004 by riding out in much the same fashion as they did before the law was enacted. On the traditional Boxing Day meets this year (well, technically last year,) hunts produced record attendance figures as around 300,000 people braved the cold weather to turn out and show their support.

It has been reported in today’s Telegraph on Sunday that should the Conservative party led by David Cameron win the next general election, the Hunting Act 2004 will be placed as a top priority for being repealed. The newspaper reports:

The letter, from David MacLean, the former Tory chief whip, who says he is writing on behalf of Mr Cameron, says: ‘Over the last few months colleagues have been speculating on the different ways we could honour our commitment… There is a danger that our straightforward commitment to bring a Bill before Parliament to repeal the Act… could get confused. All colleagues are therefore urged to simply repeat our commitment to repeal the Act. This would be, of course, on a free vote.’

The Hunting Act itself has been a spectacular failure. Despite wasting hundreds of Parliamentary hours (which could have been spent on much needier issues,) the class-obsessed Labour party claim that the act has achieved their aims. However, hunts are killing just as many foxes now as previously and I would hardly imagine that the increased support registered by hunts was what the Labour party had either envisaged or desired.

The law was badly written and is often completely unworkable – a particularly favourite example of mine being the loophole allowing a full pack of hounds to flush out a fox so that a waiting bird of prey may kill it. Of course, forty or so hunts upon learning of this loophole immediately purchased falcons and happily went about their business “within the law” as before – much to the great annoyance of the League Against Cruel Sports who have only managed to produce one minor (and currently disputed) prosecution under the act.

What’s more, thousands of foxes die on Britain’s roads each year and yet the supposed animal welfare groups are not pursuing a ban on cars for example (completely untenable in reality,) or it would seem, speaking much about this particular issue at all. However, this is to be expected. As with many of these small issue and pressure groups, they have been infiltrated by those with a different agenda to the original founders – in this case those who hate what they perceive to be an upper-class sport and will do anything to spoil the enjoyment of those who chose to pursue it. A quick read of the self-proclaimed hunt saboteurs (or ’sabs’ for short) websites would suggest that the motive behind their disruption of hunts has little to do with animal welfare and much more to do with class-hatred.

Yet, it would now seem that the tide of public support is fully turning in the hunt’s favour. Interestingly the National Trust last year voted by a sizeable majority that hunts be invited back onto their land to ensure that injured deer were dealt with humanely, and Kate Hoey, Labour MP and Chairman of the Countryside Alliance has said that, “a different government, whether Labour or Tory, will inevitably have to repeal it.”

It can now only be a matter of time before this useless, badly written and illiberal law is ripped from the statue books.