Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Government abandon hunting ban vote
There is good news in today's Times, who report that the planned vote on overturning the ban on hunting is set to be abandoned by the UK government.
They say that although the coalition agreement, signed off by David Cameron and Nick Clegg, promised that MPs would be given a free vote on tearing up the controversial Hunting Act, senior Tories have concluded that there is no point in holding the vote before the election as most MPs support the ban. They have also decided that holding a vote with no prospect of success would cause unnecessary problems for Conservatives in urban seats, where hunting is more unpopular:
The scrapping of the vote in this parliament avoids confusion over the result. Mr Clegg has said that, even if the vote went ahead and a majority of MPs favoured repealing the act, the Liberal Democrats would not agree to scrap it.
“As a party, we remain in favour of retaining the ban on hunting with hounds,” he wrote in a letter to the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS). “It is important to point out that any vote would simply be an opportunity for parliament to express its view on the act. The vote itself would not result in the act being automatically repealed.”
So it is now down to manifesto pledges. Another good reason not to give the Conservatives a majority in the next Parliament.
They say that although the coalition agreement, signed off by David Cameron and Nick Clegg, promised that MPs would be given a free vote on tearing up the controversial Hunting Act, senior Tories have concluded that there is no point in holding the vote before the election as most MPs support the ban. They have also decided that holding a vote with no prospect of success would cause unnecessary problems for Conservatives in urban seats, where hunting is more unpopular:
The scrapping of the vote in this parliament avoids confusion over the result. Mr Clegg has said that, even if the vote went ahead and a majority of MPs favoured repealing the act, the Liberal Democrats would not agree to scrap it.
“As a party, we remain in favour of retaining the ban on hunting with hounds,” he wrote in a letter to the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS). “It is important to point out that any vote would simply be an opportunity for parliament to express its view on the act. The vote itself would not result in the act being automatically repealed.”
So it is now down to manifesto pledges. Another good reason not to give the Conservatives a majority in the next Parliament.
