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Nation
‘evenly’ split on hunting poll
SUPPORT
FOR an outright ban on hunting does not have the support of
the majority of the British public as claimed by anti-hunting
MPs and campaigners, according to a new poll published last
week, writes Nick Mays.
The Poll says that for every voter who wants foxhunting banned
there is another who believes that the Government should either
find a compromise solution or drop the anti-hunting legislation
altogether.
Just under half of those polled - 48 per cent - said the Government
should ban hunting with dogs, while 23 per cent called on it
to find a compromise, and 25 per cent thought the legislation
should be dropped altogether.
The Countryside Alliance, which commissioned the poll, will
argue that the results undercut the main argument put forward
by those who favour a ban, that public opinion is heavily on
their side. They say that support for a ban, which was put at
in one opinion poll conducted in 1997, has now reached a 10-year
low.
Some within the Alliance suspect that ministers have already
made up their minds to ban hunting, but are trying to give the
impression that they are open to negotiation.
But Alun Michael, the minister for rural affairs, insisted that
the Government was still open to arguments over whether hunting
with dogs was more or less cruel than other means of pest control.
He implied, however, that the Government had rejected arguments
that to ban hunting would be an attack on basic freedom or on
the British way of life.
All 100,000 members of the alliance have been sent a letter
from the chief executive, Richard Burge, saying that the Government’s
pronouncements last month have “provoked a level of anger
which must be brought to the Government’s attention”.
Mr Burge said that ministers at the Department of the Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs and “prejudiced” MPs would
be subject to consistent law-abiding protests at official engagements,
as part of a sustained campaign.
The NOP poll of 1,000 adults was taken on March 22-24, the weekend
after the Commons had voted overwhelmingly in favour of banning
hunting with dogs, and the Lords had voted to retain hunting
under license.
Another NOP poll commissioned by the Alliance last month showed
public opinion almost equally divided between those who favour
a ban and those who would allow hunting to continue either in
its present form or under license.
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