Pro-hunting MPs will settle for relaxing the law

In The Times on Monday 13th July a report by Chief Political Correspondent Michael Savage reported: "Pro-hunting MPs will settle for relaxing the law. Pro-hunting Conservatives have vowed to drop their agitating to scrap the hunting ban by 2020 if MPs vote to relax the law this week. Farmers would be able to use a full pack of hounds to flush out foxes — but not kill them — under a plan to be put to a vote on Wednesday. The rule is already in place in Scotland, but only two dogs can currently be used in England and Wales. The fox is then shot. ........Tim Farron, the leadership favourite whose Westmorland & Lonsdale seat is home to sheep farming, said in May that he "would like to see the hunting act replaced with a more comprehensive animal welfare bill which also protects the right of farmers to protect their livestock". He has not confirmed how he will vote on Wednesday. One Conservative MP said that his party saw Wednesday's vote "as an opportunity to bury the Liberal Democrats as a force in rural constituencies". "If the Liberal Democrats vote against these changes, we won't be letting anyone forget it," he said. Even if MPs do vote to allow a full pack of hounds to be used to flush out a fox, Labour and Lib Dem peers could hold up the reforms for months." Read the piece in full here (it is behind a paywall).