Today is the fifth anniversary of the ban on fox hunting coming into force.
I do not agree with fox hunting and will work actively to support the ban. I know that the Conservatives support the repeal of the ban allowing the resumption of this cruel blood sport.
David Cameron hopes that by committing to a free vote, where party whips don’t direct MPs how to vote, he will be able to wriggle out of saying that he supports the repeal of this ban. He does. His very first speech in the House of Commons talks about his support for fox hunting. When people vote at the next election you have the choice of a party that supports fox hunting or one that will continue to oppose it.
What annoys me about the Conservatives policy to bring back fox hunting is that this should surely not be a political priority anymore. With the nation in the grips of the worst economic recession for decades it is deeply regrettable that the Tories want to make scrapping the fox hunting ban a political priority. That is another why I support the ban. I oppose fox hunting anyway but I also oppose using Parliamentary time to repeal this legislation when MPs should be focusing on jobs, health and education. How will repealing the ban on fox hunting help your family? Will it make a single hospital any better? Will it help improve the life chances or fight inequality? The Tories should be thinking of policies to help the nation out of recession not revisiting old methods of animal cruelty.
Find out more about Labour’s campaign to back the ban here.
Read my column on the People’s Republic of South Devon blog about backing the ban.
Use the comment feature at the top of this post to let me know what you think about the ban.
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I completely agree. David Cameron is intent on a return to barbarism.
hmmmm
Two quick things in response to your post:
1) Regardless of whether David Cameron supports the ban or not, the Conservatives have never said they would support its repeal. Your argument doesnt hold together – The Conservatives want a free-vote, Cameron personally doesnt support the ban, therefore they are “a party that supports fox hunting”? I dont get that. Maybe if it was Labour where policy and ideas are dictated from the top, riding over the views of the the party base…..
2) You say that you are particularly annoyed by the Conservatives wasting time on this. Hunting isnt mentioned once in the Conservative Party’s poolicy section of their website, the promise of a free-vote has been made by William Hague in an interview to one magazine, and no one in our party is really talking about this. Labour on the other hand are producing videos, building websites and Hilary Benn is wasting his valuable ministerial time on speaking about this issue. And Labour are hardly the ones to talk about wasting Parlimentary time, let’s be honest here!
Sorry to come across as so partisan, but I feel Labour have made this a partisan issue. I personally dont like hunting, but think any decision on it should be made at a local level and should not involve gesture politics, or introducing national laws to appease angry Labour backbenchers.