David Cameron set to delay free vote on lifting hunting banVote may ‘skew’ perception of coalition priorities says No 10 insider, with polls also suggesting it would be unlikely to succeed.
Patrick Wintour and Helen Carter guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 December 2010 18.51 GMT Article history
David Cameron is likely to postpone a free vote on lifting the ban on hunting with dogs indefinitely in the face of overwhelming evidence that the ban would be retained if MPs did vote, and that a vote might possibly tighten the current law.
A free vote will also irritate Liberal Democrats, with 42 of the 57 Liberal Democrats MPs opposed to lifting a ban, including the party leader, Nick Clegg.
A commitment to a free vote is in the coalition agreement but is not seen as a priority given bigger issues relating to the economy and public services.
A Downing Street source said a vote would also look like a skewed sense of priorities, and remind some voters that the coalition can be seriously divided on social issues.
Cameron, a self-confessed “shire Tory”, has said he is a country man at heart and favours hunting, but he recognises it is a highly divisive issue and would play to negative stereotypes around his party.
Coalition members are aware that a free vote, as Tony Blair discovered, can swallow a huge amount of parliamentary time and energy. The 2004 Hunting Act convulsed the second term of the Labour government and exasperated Blair, leading him to admit in his autobiography the ban was a mistake based on ignorance.
The farming minister, James Paice, confirmed on Friday that lifting the ban was not a legislative priority for him, or for the department of environment, food and rural affairs.
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