FORTY-FOUR per cent of the public think Labour MPs are driven by class issues in their attempts to ban hunting, according to a new ICM poll.

The poll, commissioned by the Countryside Alliance, asked: "A majority of Labour MPs recently voted in favour of an outright ban on hunting. From what you have seen and heard do you think that their main motivations were…

class issues 44%
animal welfare 41%
don’t know 14%

Another new ICM survey is the sixth consecutive poll since March 2002* to show no majority of public opinion for a ban on hunting. The poll asked: "A ban on hunting has been passed in the House of Commons and has gone to the House of Lords. If the House of Lords reject the ban do you think the Government should…

insist that hunting is banned completely 38%
allow hunting to continue subject to a licensing system 30%
drop the issue and allow hunting to continue as it is now 24%
Don't know 8%

Commenting on the poll findings Simon Hart, Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance, said: "It is now clear that the obsessive pursuit of a hunting ban by Labour MPs is becoming an electoral liability to the Government. The public don’t want a ban and research** has also shown that only 2% think that hunting should be a priority for government legislation.

"Allowing backbench MPs to waste more Parliamentary time on their class-based vendetta against the hunting community can only harm the Government’s standing with the electorate - especially when the Government itself accepts that health and education are people’s real priorities".