It’s perhaps unsurprising that in Britain’s ideologically charged general election campaign, long-standing divisive issues have come into play. Among the most recent to spring onto the scene is fox hunting with dogs. The tradition, which its supporters say dates back to 1534 when farmers in the county of Norfolk began chasing foxes with dogs as a form of pest control, and started to take place in an organised way from the early 17th century onward, was banned 12 years ago under then Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair. However, the possibility of that ban being overturned was raised by Prime Minister Theresa May, who has pledged to allow a free vote by MPs in Parliament on the issue. “As it happens, personally, I have always been in favour of fox hunting,” she said earlier this week.
Despite its long history, fox hunting has been controversial for many decades. Attempts to ban or restrict it date back to the late 1940s. The issue has also attracted strong public involvement and lobbying. Some opponents have taken to active forms of disruption, with a “hunt saboteurs” association dating back to 1963 and continuing its work. “Most hunts are carrying on as they did before,” reads its website, which also documents ongoing “illegal hunts”. However, fox hunting attracted some public support as well. As many as 400,000 people turned out for a “Liberty and Livelihood march’, which focussed on the needs of rural communities, in 2002. During a rally in 2004, on the day the House of Commons voted through the legislation, five protesters made it into the Commons chamber. While the legislation eventually passed through the House of Commons with a sizeable majority, the Labour government was forced to invoke the Parliament Act (only used in exceptional circumstances) after the House of Lords refused to pass the bill.
Renewed hopes
The issue has continued to rumble under the surface of politics. Former Prime Minister David Cameron had pledged MPs a free vote in both 2010 and 2015, but the attempt to overturn or weaken the legislation never materialised as it became clear that they simply didn’t have the numbers in Parliament to support it. In addition, polls over the years have suggested high levels of public support for the ban (over 80%). However, with the Conservatives now projected to win with a comfortable majority, supporters of hunting have renewed hopes of overturning the legislation. The 2017 election could provide the “best opportunity” since the ban and the “best we are likely to see in the foreseeable future”, Lord Mancroft, the head of the Council of Hunting Associations, wrote in an email leaked to the Mirror tabloid.
While the debate has ostensibly focused around issues such as population control and animal welfare, it has also been a focal point for Britain’s class divisions, with hunting seen by many as the preserve of the elite. Unsurprisingly, the unusually candid comments by the Prime Minister have been seized on by her party’s opponents.
Some have contrasted the government’s insistence on stubbornly citing the results of the Brexit referendum as the reason for pursuing a hard Brexit, while going against public sentiment on this issue. Others have questioned the sense of reviving the issue at a time when Britain ought to be fully absorbed in the Brexit process. Another section has pointed to the irony of MPs being given a free vote on this issue while in likelihood being denied a “meaningful free vote” on the final Brexit deal. On social media, Labour supporters drew on a slogan that had been used in past elections, with images of plaintive foxes next to the caption, “Vote Labour…or the fox gets it!”
(Vidya Ram writes for The Hindu and is based in London)
