Hunting Bill returns to Lords
Peers get another chance to debate the Hunting Bill today as the legislation receives its second reading in the upper chamber.
Last month, the House of Commons backed a ban on hunting with hounds in England and Wales by 339 votes to 155, passing all of the stages of the Bill in a single day, despite the floor of the Commons chamber being invaded by pro-hunt campaigners.
The Government has warned it may use the Parliament Act to ensure the Bill becomes law if the Lords rejects the Bill outright again.
On Sunday, Lord Strathclyde, the Conservative leader in the Lords, singled his intent to find a compromise by proffering a “middle way” of hunting under licence.
“The time has now come for the House of Lords to do what it traditionally does,” he said.
“That is to be sensible, to look carefully at the Bill that has been offered and try to find a middle way between those who want to abolish hunting in its entirety and those who want to preserve something, possibly through regulated hunting.”
Lord Strathclyde said it was a “very serious matter” to invoke such “a blunt instrument” as the Parliament Act, as the Hunting Bill was “a matter of conscience.”
The Government’s own “third way” option was rejected wholeheartedly by backbenchers in the Commons last year who opted for a total ban.
Animal welfare groups have rejected any talk of a compromise. John Rolls, the RSPCA’s director of animal welfare promotion, said that “there can be no compromise on cruelty, nothing has changed.”
Speaking to the BBC, anti-hunting peer Lord Graham of Edmonton added: “It is time for the Lords to respect the wishes of the people and of the elected chamber. On each occasion the hunting issue has been presented to MPs, the overwhelming majority have voted – on behalf or their constituents – for a complete ban on hunting wild animals with dogs.”
Conservative spokesman for rural affairs, James Gray, has said his party would reverse any ban on hunting.
The Lords will also be asked to discuss a separate amendment to the Bill which delays the ban’s implementation for 18 months to allow those working in the hunting industry to find an alternative form of business.
Should the Lords pass the Bill unopposed, it will then proceed to the committee stage before returning to the Commons in mid-November.
