MPs back total ban on hunting with dogs
British supporters of fox-hunting are facing the greatest ever threat to the future of their sport, after MPs voted in favour of a outright ban on hunting with dogs.
The vote, by 387 to 174, sets up a pre-election battle in the House of Lords, where Tory peers have vowed to obstruct the progress of the Hunting Bill.
With most commentators expecting a General Election on May 3, the Bill will need to clear the Lords swiftly in order to achieve Royal Assent before Parliament is dissolved.
Tory leader in the Lords Lord Strathclyde said there was little prospect of making it on to the statute book in the current session.
He said: "When the Bill reaches the House of Lords, it will be subjected to the same scrutiny as any other Government Bill. No Bill, not even the shortest and least controversial one, can normally pass the Lords in less than six to seven weeks from when it leaves the Commons," he said, speaking before the vote.
"That means that if there is an election called for April or May this Bill has no chance of becoming law, for timing reasons alone. Tony Blair knows that."
The vote for a ban followed resounding defeats for a proposal to maintain the status quo and a so-called 'middle way' option to allow hunting to continue by introducing regulations to make it more humane.
News of the votes was greeted with cheers by jubilant opponents of hunting who had gathered outside Parliament, and with anger and despair by pro-hunting demonstrators who had been holding a round-the-clock vigil.
Opening the debate, junior Home Office minister Mike O'Brien said the votes were "a matter of conscience" for each MP.
Tory home affairs spokesman David Lidington said his preference was for self regulation and attacked the "illiberal and intolerant" ban as a waste of police resources at a time of rising violent crime.
