The hunting act - repeal is inevitable, say CA

A CLEAR, concise and powerful argument for the repeal of the Hunting Act is detailed in the ‘Case for Repeal’, a new document by the Countryside Alliance setting out why the Act is flawed and why it believes repeal is inevitable.

The pro-hunting Alliance’s document tackles the Act from four different angles:

• The Hunting Act is a confusing law: the series of ‘exemptions’ are both illogical and unclear, and their definition has ultimately been left up to huntsmen, the police and the courts.

• The Hunting Act is an illiberal law: more parliamentarians voted against the Act than for it, and despite years of consultation and debate, and a Government Enquiry, there was never any evidence that hunting caused a demonstrable harm.

• The Hunting Act is a cruel law: it does nothing to protect wild animals from unnecessary suffering, nor does it promote their conservation – the impact of the Hunting Act has actually been that more foxes, deer and hares are being killed.

• The Hunting Act is a divisive law: when historians come to judge Tony Blair’s legacy for the countryside one issue will dominate their thoughts: the long wasteful and irrelevant battle over hunting legislation.

Simon Hart, Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance, said: ‘The Hunting Act is unique in that its effects are entirely negative. It diminishes respect for Parliament; it puts law-abiding people at risk of prosecution; it diverts police attention from real crime; it brings no benefit to the environment; it is a blatant example of political prejudice and it does nothing for the welfare or conservation of the species it claims to ‘protect’.

‘The Hunting Act is a law that fails at every level, and scrapping it need not be complicated or time consuming. The ‘Case for the Repeal’ is the justification that any Government, of whatever colour, will need to consign the Hunting Act to the dustbin of history.’

A copy of ‘Case For Repeal’ may be downloaded from the Countryside Alliance website: http://www.countryside-alliance.org/