Hunt supporters step up campaign
15 January 2001
Hunt supporters step up campaign
By FWi staff
HUNT supporters have taken to the streets in the lead-up to the vote on whether to ban hunting with dogs.
On Sunday (14 January) hundreds marched to the office Jamie Plaskitt, anti-hunting Labour MP for Warwick and Leamington, reports The Daily Telegraph.
And on Monday (15 January) Countryside Alliance protesters began a vigil in Parliament Square in the lead up to the vote on Wednesday (17 January).
Shifts of 20 demonstrators will come from constituencies of anti-hunt MPs of all parties in marginal seats
The Telegraph predicts that thousands of demonstrators will take to the streets around Britain on Wednesday.
The Hunting Bill asks MPs to choose from three options; they can ban hunting outright, bring in strict regulation or allow self-regulation.
Due to its unusual structure, the bill will be considered in a committee of the whole House in the main chamber. It is expected MPs will vote for a ban.
However, when the House of Lords debates the Bill, it will be given the same choice and could select a different option.
Should that occur, a compromise would have to be sought.
In The Times, William Rees-Mogg argues that the countryside has become for Tony Blair what Scotland was to Margaret Thatcher.
“Country people regard him as imposing an alien culture.
Many of them now hate him as much as the Scots hated Mrs Thatcher,” claims Lord Rees-Mogg.
- The Times 15 January, 2001 page
- The Daily Telegraph 15 January, 2001 page 8