The Support Hunting Association is one
of the UK's most prominent pro-hunting organisations, now incorporating
issues related to Game Shooting, Fox Hunting and Angling.
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2007 Oakley
Hounds Calendar
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All profits from this calendar will be donated
equally to two local good causes. The Thames Valley and Chiltern Air
Ambulance and the Oakley Hounds. |
Have you seen these
pages?
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| Police View
of a hunting ban - Two chief constables voice their concern on
a ban on hunting.
Timelines -On the current Hunting
Bill, the attempts to ban hunting, and on the ban in Scotland.
Hunting vs. Human
Rights - Parliament has advised that the Hunting Bill is incompatible
with the Human Rights Act. |
Quotes
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The ban has guaranteed that the time and money invested by the League
Against Cruel Sports and the RSPCA has increased animal suffering.
We told them this would happen. This rise in suffering since the ban
is the cost of ignoring that warning!
Daily Telegraph
3 May 2005.
Numerous police officers accompanied the more than 250 hunts which
took place yesterday, the first day that the sport became illegal.
Despite the friendly exchanges between officers and huntsmen and women,
the presence of the police posed a question: what public good were
they trying to uphold?
Daily Telegraph
20 February 2005.
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| Party Views (Updated February
2006) |
The main parties in the UK Parliament have
different views on hunting - find out what they are and how your MP
votes regarding a ban.
Note: MP's voted 'according to their conscience' when voting regarding
hunting - not according to the views of their political party, which
is known as a 'free vote'.
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The
Labour Party
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 In
the House of Commons
The majority of Labour MPs in the House of Commons strongly support
a ban on hunting - as is frequently mentioned in the press. Only 12
of the Labour MPs who voted on 30th June 2003 voted against a ban,
329 supported a ban, this fell to only 3 voting against in September
2004
However those who voted against a ban are likely to have done so because
they supported the government-backed option of licensing and not because
they support hunting. One Labour MP is a noteable exception - Kate
Hoey, Labour MP for Vauxhall and ex-sports minister, supports the
freedom to hunt.
Party leader and Prime Minister Tony Blair has not recently voted
on hunting - however in his last vote on hunting on 18 March 2002
he voted for a full ban and abstained from the licensing option.
In the House of Lords
The majority of Labour members of the House of Lords however, do not
support a ban on hunting. Only 40 supported then-MP Tony Banks' amendment
[for a total ban - going against the Government's preffered option
of licensing], whereas the other 156 Labour peers either backed the
Lords reversal amendment (to re-introduce the licensing scheme) or
abstained. |
The
Conservative Party
|
 In
the House of Commons
The majority of Conservative MPs in the House of Commons strongly
support hunting - only 6 voted for a total ban in June - 115 voted
against it.
Those against hunting include Miss Ann Widdecombe (Maidstone &
The Weald), Sir Teddy Taylor (Rochford & Southend East)* &
John Taylor (Solihull)*.
Those who vote against a ban on hunting do not do so necessarily because
they support hunting itself but because of their beliefs of freedom
and non-regulation.
Leader David Cameron, and previous leaders Michael Howard, Iain Duncan-Smith
and William Hague have all voted against a ban.
In the House of Lords
Conservative members of the House of Lords support
hunting - none vote against it.
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The
Liberal Democrats
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 In
the House of Commons
The majority of Liberal Democrat MPs in the House of Commons support
a hunting ban - however a significant number support 'the liberty
to hunt'. 26 voted for a hunting ban and 18 voted against.
The general Lib Dem party policy is a total ban on hunting with dogs.
The voting of several Lib Dem MPs to ban hunting - including former
leader Charles Kennedy - whose constituencies are in Scotland, caused
fury. As hunting is banned in Scotland, the Hunting Bill would have
no effect in the country.
The parliamentary middle-way group - who campaign for hunting to be
licensed not simply banned - is chaired by Lib Dem MP Lembit Öpik,
he is also a member of the Hunting Bill standing committee.
In the House of Lords
The majority of Lib Dems in the House of Lords either vote against
a hunting ban or abstain. |
Plaid
Cymru
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| In the House
of Commons
The general party view on hunting is not clear, however all of their
four MPs (at the time), Elfyn Llwyd (Leader of Westminster party,
Meirionnydd Nant Conwy); Hywel Williams (Caernarfon); Simon Thomas
(Ceredigion)* and Adam Price (Carmarthen East & Dinefwr) voted
against a complete ban on hunting with dogs in September 2004, favouring
the licensing option. Hywel Williams is also a pro-hunting member
of the Hunting Standing committee. |
Scottish
National Party
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| In the House
of Commons
The general policy of the SNP is against hunting with dogs - several
members helped ban hunting in Scotland. |
Ulster
Unionist Party
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| In the House
of Commons
Naturally, hunting is not high on the agenda of parties in Northern
Ireland.
However during hunting debates at Westminster, then-leader of the
party David Trimble, voted against a full ban on 17th January 2001
- in all votes since, he abstained.
Two of the six UUP MPs at the time: David Burnside (Antrim South)*
and Lady Sylvia Hermon (Down North) voted against an outright hunting
ban in September 2004, the others abstained. |
Democratic
Unionist Party
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| In the House
of Commons Leader Reverend Ian
Paisley has abstained from every vote on hunting to be held since
the 2001 general election.
In June, one MP, Peter Robinson (Belfast East), voted against an outright
hunting ban, the other MPs abstained. |
Independents
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| In the House
of Commons Independent Dr Richard
Taylor (KHHC Wyre Forest) also voted against an outright ban in
June. |
General
Election 2005
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* After the 2005 General
Election, some of the MP's listed above either retired or lost their
seats, they are shown using an asterisk. |
What
is my MP's view of fox hunting and how does he/she vote regarding
a ban?
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| Guardian
Unlimited: Ask Aristotle |
|
To find out how your
MP has voted in the votes on Hunting, enter their name
or your postcode below.
1. Enter the name of you MP below, if
you don't know who they are - enter your town or postcode.
2. When the results appear select your
MP.
3. Click 'How have they voted?'
4. The page lists all the major votes
that have taken place since the election and how your
MP voted. The last major hunting vote was on 16.09.2004. |
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Disclaimer: Guardian Unlimited has no connection
with our site in any respects, we are providing
you with this form and it is not endorsed by Guardian
Unlimited - politics.guardian.co.uk |
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For a full list of all the UK MP's and how they voted on 16 September
2004 - go
to this page and use your browsers 'find' option to locate your
MP. |
Please
note
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| All the above information is intended as
a guide only. For links to the related political parties, see the
Web Links page. For a guide to each
of the parties views at the height of the debate - the 2001 General
Election, see the BBC News 'Vote2001:
Main Issues: Fox Hunting' page. |
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