Backdoor ban on hunting
By Melissa Kite, Political Correspondent and Valerie Elliott, Countryside Editor

Labour MPs will be allowed to hijack bill




THE Government is to introduce a total ban on foxhunting by the back door, raising the prospect of a furious constitutional showdown in Parliament.
Ministers are preparing a compromise Bill which will outlaw most forms of hunting with hounds but which will provide for licensed hunting in upland areas as the most humane way to control foxes.

However, The Times has learnt that the Government fully expects MPs to amend the �Trojan horse� Bill, striking out the licensing option and strengthening it into a uniform ban across the country. Senior ministerial sources indicated that if this happens the Government will invoke the Parliament Act to push through the amended Bill, overriding the inevitable opposition in the Lords.

Pro-hunting groups gave warning of mayhem and said the plan was a betrayal of attempts to compromise with the Government. It will deepen divisions in the countryside lobby where hardline factions, such as the Real Countryside Alliance, have already broken away from the main group.

The Countryside Alliance is struggling to control the hardliners and nerves are becoming frayed before the countryside march in London this month which is expected to attract more than 250,000 people.

Senior police officers have told the Government that they fear a �hotch potch� of muddled new anti-hunting laws. The Association of Chief Police Officers is concerned that fudged laws would be impossible to enforce.

All sides in the hunting debate are preparing for a series of unprecedented public hearings at Westminster next week at which the Government will hear evidence from expert witnesses.

Alun Michael, the Rural Affairs Minister, has billed the meetings as a genuine listening exercise which will influence the Government�s decision-making process. He will insist when the hearings open that no decision has yet been taken.

But the �Trojan horse� Bill is already taking shape. It is likely to be announced in the Queen�s Speech this autumn and would become law by spring 2004. In its original form it will outlaw practices which involve �unnecessary suffering�, with hare coursing, staghunting and most foxhunting banned.

A limited amount will be allowed in areas such as Cumbria where the alternative methods of killing foxes, such as gassing and shooting, are considered to be more cruel.

However, MPs led by Labour�s Gerald Kaufman are expected to win support for major amendments. When the Lords rejects the amended Bill, the Government will reintroduce it into the Commons and invoke the Parliament Act a year later to ensure its safe passage.

Ministerial sources said the move was likely because Tony Blair did not want to use the Parliament Act to push through a government Bill providing for a total ban, an option the Prime Minister is said to view as constitutionally shaky. However, he believes that if the Commons were to reject the partial ban and vote through an amended Bill enshrining a total ban the Government would have the right to do all it could to honour it.

Many ministers favour this option as it will see the Government delivering on its original manifesto promise to settle the issue. One senior minister said: �Labour MPs� postbags are still full of letters on this issue. There is no way that they are going to accept a compromise whereby some hunting continues. We are prepared to support them if that is what they decide.�

Pro-hunt groups vowed to step up their campaign against a ban to �unprecedented levels� if such a scenario unfolds. John Jackson, chairman of the Countryside Alliance, said that if a ban were introduced by the back door, large numbers of people would simply refuse to abide by it and illegal hunting would begin. He said: �It would be undemocratic and a form of tyranny. It would be a serious challenge to our democracy and we would not hesitate in organising the largest ever peaceful demonstration against it.�

Mr Jackson has been strongly supportive of the consultation process beginning on Monday in Portcullis House, Westminster, at which pro and anti-hunting groups will be able to cross-examine expert witnesses. The proceedings, which will be webcast live on www.videonews.ukonline.gov.uk, are the culmination of six months of consultation between Mr Michael and interested groups. While pro-hunters are still fiercely arguing for a form of licensed hunting to continue across England and Wales, Mr Michael�s hands are tied in the extent to which he can meet their demands.

Whilst I'm not a 'hunter' (UK talk for a person who pursues game/vermin on horseback)there is no way I can accept the sort of blanket legislation that will do NOTHING to improve the welfare of any animal - whilst putting thousands out of house and home.

It was exactly this expedient law drafting that robbed the UK of the right to practice shooting with handguns. Nett result, increasing firearms crime and over �4,000,000 in compensation payments.

Accordingly, I will be marching in London on the 22nd of September and will welcome the company of any likeminded folk.

My only concern is that there is a march in London every Sunday of the year. Looked on as a curiousity and tourist attraction they have no real effect.

I still fail to see why we continue to pander to 'reason and compromise' as opposed to marching at 9.00am on a Monday morning - when it could reasonably be supposed that shutting down the City of London would attract the attention of the both the government and media!

I feel that should such a change be enacted in law - we will see the sort of direct action the French farmers' tend to favour! Ian F

We will see more of this. Much more I am afraid.
People living in cities are bigger in numbers and lesser in rational ways of thinking.
They make and rule the democratic decisions, but they don't know what they are talking about. And how could they, being from the cities they have moved so far away from nature, that natures own rules are disregarded.

Hunting politics of today, originates from the Walt Disney minded. Babbling away while they eat meat from animals kept in "koncentration camps" till it's time for dinner.

Look at Holland and you will see where we are going.

Any dutch hunters out there...??
Seen any lately...??

I am worried.. Really Worried
K&B
Niels

NOOO!!!!!!!!!

weidmannsheil martin

Gentlemen

What has happend to the britts?

I guess it's that foot and mouth thing that has stuck their mind and gotten completly insane. NO NO NO NO

Take a socialist government receiving large donations from animal rights groups, add a failure to deliver on basic election issues such as health care, season with ignorance and class hatred. Add to urban majority who view fox's as cute due to large number of vet programmes on TV. Seperate the shooters and fishers from the hunters (as in hunting with hounds which is what all this is about)and hey presto no hunting with hounds.

As to what the English and Welsh are becoming (the Scots have allready banned it) the answer we are aligning ourselves with the majority of European and US states where hunting with hounds is banned!

Things are starting to hot up there is now a radical splinter group from the Country Side Alliance which calls itself the Real Country Side Alliance and is starting direct action..... Not for those with fire arm certificates who want to keep them though.

Niels,
Not all Dutch hunters are "out of business" yet!
You are right that things surely have not improved over the last 20 years or so. Since april 1st of this year our new hunting legislation (with the protection of most animals as prime goal and a general banning of killing crows, foxes etc) became effective. But today (less then 1/2 year later) a lot of birdwatchers, farmers and other people with common sense agree that this legislation has gone to far and needs to be repaired. So there is still some hope, although I have no expectation at all that everything will get back to where it was.
As others already mentioned: the politicians from the urban areas rule the countryside. We are in the minority and our voices will often not be heard or even worse: neglected. The only thing you can do about it in a democracy is keep shouting, try to live with it and hope for the best.

I see the Real CA are stepping up their action, I live near Chequers, President Tony's country estate, and all along the road leading there are pro hunting slogans painted on the tarmac. Also heard of leading Antis having cars covered in fox giblets etc. This is the way things are going to go, as obviously the march on the 22nd is going to have no effect on government policy whatsoever. Still, see you there anyway!