Blair to campaign on hunting

TONY Blair has reluctantly agreed to force through a fox-hunting ban for England and Wales as a political tool to use during the next general election.

After seven years of prevarication, the Prime Minister is expected to endorse legislation that would ban hunting with hounds - but take effect only in the next parliament.

This would appease Labour Party members ahead of this month’s party conference in Blackpool, and help Labour play the class card at the election by putting the hunting ban in its manifesto.

Mr Blair, who is personally ambivalent about the issue, has agreed to use the Parliament Act to force legislation through the House of Lords after peers showed outright hostility to any ban.

Contrary to weekend reports, his hand has not been forced by threats of resignations from the Cabinet. Most ministers see the issue as meat to throw at the back-benches.

Hunting with hounds has been banned for two years in Scotland, where it became one of the first priorities of the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish system allows foxes to be hunted down by dogs, as long as they are then shot.

A bill is expected to go in front of the Commons when it reconvenes for a fortnight before rising again for the party conferences.

After receiving Commons approval, which is likely, Mr Blair would then ask Michael Martin, the Speaker, to use the Parliament Act for only the fifth time since 1950.

Labour MPs have been growing restive on the issue for weeks, many remembering that a free vote on foxhunting was promised in Labour’s 1997 manifesto.

Mr Blair has privately argued that his government should have higher priorities than seeking to criminalise a vocal and powerful section of the country. But he has since been convinced that this issue can galvanise voters at election time, albeit driven as much by a desire to thwart an upper-middle-class pursuit as to save wildlife.

Attempts to ban hunting in England stretch back half a century. In 1949, two private members’ bills failed and a Labour government inquiry found that hunting involved "less cruelty than most other methods" of controlling foxes. In November 1997, a private member’s bill was passed - but the government refused to give it enough parliamentary time to progress further.