MPs ban foxhunting

by FIN DAVERN, Metro

A vote to ban foxhunting was carried by an overwhelming 213-vote majority in the Commons last night.

MPs backed the controversial Bill by 387 votes to 174 after seven hours of heated debate. There were loud cheers outside Parliament from animal rights supporters as they heard the result.

Other proposals on fox-hunting, for self-regulation and licensing, were defeated by majorities of 244 and 200 respectively.

MPs were given a free vote on the issue. Most Labour MPs backed a ban, although Home Secretary Jack Straw and Sports Minister Kate Hoey supported licensing the pursuit.

Most Tories, including William Hague, voted against it. In the Liberal Democrat camp, leader Charles Kennedy supported a ban but former leader Paddy Ashdown wanted no change in the law.

During the debate one Tory, Owen Paterson, likened supporters of the legislation to Nazis. He claimed only 'honest, decent' people went hunting and the alternatives of trapping and snaring were 'hideously cruel'. A ban would do terrible damage to sheep farmers, he said.

Mr Paterson argued that hunts drew young people into a 'social network that will last all their lives'.

He warned Labour MPs: 'Before they troop through the politically correct lobby, brimming with self-righteous bile and spiteful prejudice, they should remember the unhappy precedent of 1936 when the revolting Reichsjaeger Hermann Goering persuaded Hitler to ban hunting.

'We should not create criminals lightly. No-one gained in Germany then. No-one will now. A ban will be an ominous portent of further freedoms to be lost at the hands of an intolerant majority.'

Even though MPs voted for a ban, opposition in the House of Lords means the proposal is highly unlikely to become law before the expected spring election.

Tory Lords leader Lord Strathclyde said: 'If there is an election called for April or May, this Bill has no chance for timing reasons alone. Tony Blair knows that.' The Prime Minister himself missed the vote as he flew unexpectedly on a visit to Northern Ireland.

Anti-hunting pressure groups were delighted with the result. But the Countryside Alliance, which has campaigned against a ban, has called a mass rally in London for March 18 in protest.