MPs IGNORE CALLS TO ACT ON HUNTS
Western Morning News
A split has emerged between those demanding the law is rewritten and other animal rights groups who say the existing law just needs to be enforced more stringently by the police.
A campaign in Westminster to persuade the Government to toughen up the Act has attracted the support of less than one in 20 MPs.
The hardcore group of Labour and Liberal Democrat backbenchers claims there is "mounting evidence" hunts are avoiding the law and demands changes be made to secure more prosecutions.
But the move appears to be at odds with leading animal rights campaigners who last night told the WMN the Act was "good" but police must make it a greater priority to enforce.
Countryside campaigners claimed the split was proof of a "widening schism" within the anti-hunting movement.
Meanwhile, a judgment is expected soon on the appeal of Exmoor huntsman Tony Wright, the first huntsman to be prosecuted under the Hunting Act. He was convicted by Barnstaple magistrates in August 2006 of hunting a wild mammal with dogs, but that decision was overturned last year and a ruling was sought from the High Court.
All other prosecutions have been on hold pending the outcome, which is expected soon.
Ahead of the ruling, maverick left-wing Labour MP John McDonnell – who launched an ill-fated attempt to stand against Gordon Brown for the party's leadership last summer – has tabled a Commons motion calling on the Government to amend the Act.
He wants it to include a "reckless behaviour clause" which he says would prevent the abuse of the spirit of the legislation.
But it has been signed by just 28 other MPs. None of them is from Devon, Cornwall, Somerset or Dorset, and even high-profile opponents of hunting like Tory stalwart Ann Widdecombe are notable by their absence.
Mr McDonnell insists the Act – which then-Prime Minister Tony Blair was reportedly "not comfortable with" – is not working.
"It took a long time. There was a lot of discussion. We thought we got it right, but we clearly haven't, in this instance."
His Commons motion highlights that, before the law banning hunting with dogs was passed by Parliament, 50,000 hunt members and supporters reportedly signed a declaration that "they would disobey such a law".
The MPs claim "there is mounting evidence that hunts are avoiding the law and by various devices are continuing the barbaric practice of hunting foxes down to a bloody kill and claiming that such kills are accidental".
And they demand the Government "act to prevent this abuse of the spirit of the anti-hunting legislation by means of an amendment to the Hunting Act to include a reckless behaviour clause".
However, a spokesman for the League Against Cruel Sports told the WMN: "We believe very strongly that the Act is an enforceable, good piece of legislation.
"We are working with the police quite closely to push the enforcement as high up the priority of the police as possible.
"Our position is not particularly to support an amendment, it is that the Act is working. It has had prosecutions and we will see more."
She added that the LACS's stance was in line with that of the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the RSPCA.
The difference of opinion has been seized on by the pro-hunt lobby as proof the Labour Government spent 700 hours of Parliamentary time "on a piece of legislation that has failed completely to do what they wanted it to do.
"But others say it is a fine piece of legislation, it just needs enforcing better – there are different messages coming out and they appear to be in disarray," said the Countryside Alliance.
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