British MP's vote for fox hunting ban

July 1, 2003

From correspondents in London

01Jul03

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair suffered a large defeat in parliament

late today as MPs voted overwhelmingly to ban fox hunting with dogs in

England and Wales.

Blair's Labour government had intended for lawmakers to vote on proposals

to ban stag hunting and hare coursing while allowing fox hunting under

licence.

However following a stormy five-hour debate in the lower House of Commons,

the government withdrew its proposals at the eleventh hour, allowing MPs

the opportunity to vote on an outright ban to fox hunting - an issue that

has pitted animal rights activists against countryside dwellers who see

their way of life under threat.

The lawmakers backed the ban by 362 to 154 votes, a majority of 208.

Despite the victory, the upper House of Lords - a bastion of the pro-hunt

lobby - is expected to vote against an outright ban, as it did in an

earlier vote in 2001.

Blair's Labour party entered government in 1997 with a pledge to ban fox

hunting. But following the House of Lords' opposition, it unveiled

compromise proposals last December calling for fox hunts to be permitted

as long as participants could get a three-year licence on grounds that

foxes have become so plentiful as to become pests in their areas.

The issue came to a boil last September when more than 400,000 hunt

supporters bore down on London for an unprecedented " Liberty and

Livelihood " march.

Hunting foxes and stags with packs of hounds, with riders in scarlet

jackets following on horseback, goes back more than 300 years in Britain,

and is widely associated with British aristocracy.

Scotland is not included in the legislation because it adopts and enforces

its own hunting laws.

This report appears on news.com.au.

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