MPs urged not to scupper Hunting Bill

Monday, 30 June 2003 12:00 AM

The Government has called on MPs not to wreck legislation which would permit fox hunting but under a strict regulatory framework.

The House of Commons will vote on Monday on the Bill which effectively bans hare coursing and stag hunting, but allows fox hunting in some form.

Margaret Beckett, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said the Bill was the "strongest ever put forward."

She added: "MPs on a completely free vote can choose between what is simple to explain and what is simple to enforce. If cruelty is the main concern, I plead with colleagues neither to wreck the Bill, nor delay its timing."

Anti-hunt MPs have a sizeable presence in Westminster. Labour backbenchers Gerald Kaufman and Tony Banks have been vociferous in demanding an outright ban.

It is estimated about 140 MPs may demand the inclusion of an amendment calling for an absolute ban on fox hunting.

Kate Hoey, former sports minister, warned yesterday that anti-hunting "zealots" may wreck the Hunting Bill.

She called on them to reflect on the so-called "middle way," which considers hunting no more cruel than other methods of fox control.

She said: "I have always opposed a ban on hunting. It's ridiculous that we're spending eight or nine hours on it tomorrow when there are so many other problems."

The Labour party pledged to ban hunting in its 1997 general election manifesto.

The anti-fox hunting group, Campaigning to Protect Hunted Animals, is expected to unfurl a 15-feet long and eight-feet high papier-mache fox outside Westminster today.

It claims to have collected one million signatures in England and Wales supporting a total ban.

Yesterday, a spokeswoman for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) insisted self-regulation was ineffective and called for hunting with dogs to be banned.

Phyllis Campbell-McCrae made her remarks after six people were suspended from the Cottesmore Hunt after worker Dean Jones was secretly filmed placing fox cubs in the ground.

Speaking on the Channel Four Weekend News, Ms. Campbell-McCrae said: 'Self-regulation does not work. We need legislation to make things work and the only legislation in this case that would make things work is an outright ban.'

Speaking on the same programme, David Manning, the Deputy Manager of the Cottesmore Hunt said: 'It is clear that Dean Jones knows the rules. It is also clear that it is misconduct. He has broken the rules and he knows that. He has been suspended and so has his immediate manager.'

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