UK To Push Ahead With Hunting Restrictions, Possible Ban
By Mike Wendling
CNSNews.com London Bureau Chief
November 13, 2002

London (CNSNews.com) - The British government has vowed to push ahead with legislation to regulate or even ban the sport of foxhunting, according to plans announced Wednesday.

The government hopes to settle the dispute over foxhunting that has continually cropped up since Prime Minister Tony Blair came to power in 1997.

Wednesday's announcement came as part of the annual Queen's Speech, which sets the parliamentary agenda for the following year.

The Queen said "a bill will be introduced to enable Parliament to reach a conclusion on hunting with dogs."

It's not yet clear whether Blair's administration will propose a complete ban on the traditional sport or table a bill that will allow the practice to continue with restrictions on the number and locations of hunts.

Some Labor Party MPs are eager to amend whatever legislation is proposed to force a vote on an outright ban, a move that could set the stage for a clash with the House of Lords.

In consultation votes earlier this year, the House of Commons voted 386-175 in favor of a total ban, while the upper chamber supported a compromise bill that included greater regulation.

Those votes came in advance of a consultation process by the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. A departmental spokesman said Wednesday that a draft foxhunting bill, based on the consultation report, would be announced "hopefully before Christmas."

Foxhunting is already banned in Scotland as a result of regional legislation enacted there in August.

Campaign Reaction

A spokesman for the Countryside Alliance's Campaign for Hunting said Wednesday that the real battle over foxhunting would be fought when the government's proposed bill is announced.

"The Queen's Speech was very much as we expected," he said. "We're now waiting for the draft."

"We expect the government will keep their word on this issue and introduce legislation based on evidence," the spokesman said.

If that happens, the spokesman said, "there is no case for a ban" and no reason for the House of Commons to push through a ban over the possible objections of the Lords.

The anti-hunting Campaign to Protect Hunted Animals took a different view of the issue. The group said that a compromise bill that would allow the sport to continue "remains unacceptable."

"The case against hunting with dogs is overwhelming and the issue must be finalized," said spokesman John Rolls

"Any compromise that allowed some hunting to continue would prolong the controversy and would fail to do the job the public wants done," he said.

Other plans

The Queen's Speech is a tradition dating from a time when the monarch set the parliamentary agenda, but the address is now penned entirely by the ruling political party.

Other proposals in this year's speech include measures on crime, health, and the creation of English regional assemblies modeled on legislatures in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The government hopes to pass measures to increase prison sentences, create on-the-spot fines for minor offenses and crack down on "nuisance crime" such as graffiti and illegal dumping.

The Labor Party also wants to modify the "double jeopardy" rule, which stipulates that a defendant cannot be tried for the same crime twice. The rule could be suspended in limited circumstances where there is "new and compelling" evidence.

The government pledged to make a decision by June 2003 on whether or not to call a referendum on joining the European common currency.

Also included was a vow to "continue to work with the international community to deter, detain and disrupt international terrorist groups," though no specific anti-terror legislation was outlined. Labor lawmakers pushed through a raft of emergency legislation in the wake of Sept. 11, including increased powers to detain foreign terror suspects and freeze terror funds.

In what could turn out to be one of the most popular proposals in this year's legislative session, the government also plans to relax laws regulating the opening hours of pubs and bars. In most cases, British pubs can only stay open until 11 p.m.

The government hopes that later hours will encourage drinkers to spread out their consumption over the course of an evening and "minimize public disorder resulting from artificially fixed closing times and encourage a more civilised culture in pubs, bars and restaurants," the Queen said.

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