Hunting battle hits new high

Fox-hunting has become a difficult issue for Labour

More than sixty Labour MPs are supporting a new attempt to introduce a ban on foxhunting by amending the Countryside Bill which is currently going through Parliament.

Labour MP Gordon Prentice, who has tabled the amendment, has written to colleagues warning them of the risk that voters will think Labour is reneging on a manifesto promise.

We cannot run with the fox and hunt with the hounds. People will notice

Labour MP Gordon Prentice

Mr Prentice told members of the Parliamentary Labour Party: "What started as a positive for us is rapidly turning into a negative, as people start to think we are backsliding on this key issue."

The amendment will not be debated or voted on until the Bill comes to the floor of the Commons in a couple of weeks' time.

Hunters say their tradition should continue

In a letter to party colleagues, Mr Prentice, MP for Pendle, said there had been too much delay and frustration on the issue since Labour swept to power in 1997.

He reminded MPs of a Labour leaflet circulated during last year's Eddisbury by-election telling voters "Vote Labour...or the fox gets it."

Mr Prentice added: "We cannot run with the fox and hunt with the hounds. People will notice."

Most Labour MPs support a ban and a Private Member's Bill outlawing hunting sponsored by Mike Foster, Labour MP for Worcester, won an overwhelming Second Reading vote in 1998.

But it failed through lack of government time and never reached the House of Lords.

Farmers' 'overestimates'

Last summer, Tony Blair pledged to ban hunting during a BBC television interview - a statement which immediately prompted a fresh round of nationwide protest marches and rallies from the pro-hunting Countryside Alliance.

A second Private Member's Bill by MP Ken Livingstone also failed last month under the Commons procedure rules.

Now an independent inquiry into hunting, chaired by Lord Burns, is due to report within the next few weeks.

The inquiry is expected to report that farmers massively overestimate the size of the fox population and the danger to livestock, according to The Guardian newspaper.

Amendment

Mr Prentice and Labour MP Christine McCafferty (Calder Valley), have collected the signatures of about 60 Labour MPs backing their amendment to the Countryside and Rights of Way Bill, which is going through the Commons.

Mr Prentice says in his letter: "We tabled the amendment as a way of getting the government to state definitively its position on a ban on hunting with dogs.

"The Countryside Bill is, of course, a government Bill which can be amended to bring in a ban.

"If the government believes the Bill is not the best vehicle, then it needs to offer an alternative.

"At the moment, what is on offer is a Private Member's Bill.

"My own view is that the Private Member's route is fraught with difficulty and the last thing we want is for yet another attempt to come to grief."