The Foxhunting Ban- Should it be lifted?

The Conservatives promised a free vote on a hunting bill in government time if they came to power. Now everybody’s talking about whether or not the vote will happen, and if MPs would in fact vote to lift the ban.

Our own new Conservative MP Claire Perry indicated during her campaign that she would vote to lift the ban if the opportunity arose.

In a BBC radio interview a couple of months ago David Cameron said,

“I always thought the ban was a mistake because I think it is very difficult to enforce....The point is the fox population has to be controlled. Every farmer will tell you that, and tell you the methods being used- in more cases gassing and shooting and trapping and snaring- are very cruel”

On the potential vote on lifting the ban Cameron said,

“It will be a free vote in the House of Commons and if the ban is kept it’s kept, and if it’s repealed it’s repealed.“

Many Lib Dem MPs have indicated that they won’t be backing any Conservative proposal to lift the ban.

I wonder if the MPs’ vote will reflect the feelings of most everyday people?

An Ipsos Mori survey commissioned for the International Fund for Animal Welfare last summer found that 75% of the British public did not want foxhunting to be made legal again.

When I was in my early teens I was part of a group doing a survey on local people’s feelings about fox hunting outside Waitrose. Feelings expressed were so uniformly against the pastime that we were actually deliberately approaching horsey looking people to try to find someone who was pro-hunting so that the survey didn’t look like a fix- we just couldn’t find anyone in Marlborough who was pro hunt!

Is this still the case? Or do you think the ban should be lifted? Do you think local hunts ignore the ban and carry on regardless? How do you think MPs will vote?