Yahoo – AFP,
January 7, 2018
British Prime Minister Teresa May, reneging on a campaign promise, said she would not seek a vote to overturn a 2004 ban on fox hunting. (AFP Photo/Leon NEAL) |
London
(AFP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said Sunday she will ditch an
election pledge for a vote on reversing the fox-hunting ban following a public
backlash.
"On
this issue of fox hunting, what I can say is that there won't be a vote during
this parliament," she told BBC's Andrew Marr Show.
"I've
never fox hunted, but I've not changed my view on that," added May, who is
a supporter of the sport.
"But
as prime minister my job isn't just about what I think about something, it's
actually about looking at what the view of the country is, I think there was a
clear message about that."
The
manifesto of May's Conservative Party for last year's general election
contained a pledge to hold a free vote on overturning the 2004 law banning the
use of dogs to hunt foxes and other wild mammals in England and Wales.
The
opposition Labour Party focused heavily on the issue during campaigning,
helping it to score a shock upset in depriving May of her majority.
The subject
received extra attention on December 26, Boxing Day, when hundreds of British
hunting groups met across the country on the busiest day in the hunting
calendar.
Britain
still allows trail hunts, which let packs follow a route rather than an animal,
and drag hunting, in which hounds track artificial scents.
Critics
argue that dogs still chase and kill live animals on these hunts, with
organisers claiming the kills are accidental.
Hunters
claim they comply with the law.
The U-turn
is likely to anger parts of May's rural base, who see the ban as an imposition
of urban values on their way of life.
Ann Mallalieu,
president of the Countryside Alliance -- a rural life lobby group which claims
to have around 100,000 supporters -- wrote in the Daily Telegraph last month
that some lawmakers had admitted their opposition to fox hunting was an element
of "class warfare".
But Labour
leader Jeremy Corbyn has called the sport "cruel and barbaric".
Just days after the traditional Boxing Day hunt, British PM Theresa May ditches plans for a vote on reversing the 2004 Hunting Act - which banned the use of dogs to hunt foxes and other wild mammals in England and Wales https://t.co/sOAJbeNcdl pic.twitter.com/SUVR8w22at— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 7, 2018
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