The Support Hunting Association is one of the UK's most prominent pro-hunting organisations, now incorporating issues related to Game Shooting, Fox Hunting and Angling.
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Have you seen these pages?
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Police View of a hunting ban - Two chief constables voice their concern on a ban on hunting.
Timelines -On the current Hunting Bill, the attempts to ban hunting, and on the ban in Scotland.
Hunting vs. Human Rights - Parliament has advised that the Hunting Bill is incompatible with the Human Rights Act.
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Quotes
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The ban has guaranteed that the time and money invested by the League Against Cruel Sports and the RSPCA has increased animal suffering. We told them this would happen. This rise in suffering since the ban is the cost of ignoring that warning!
Daily Telegraph
3 May 2005.
Numerous police officers accompanied the more than 250 hunts which took place yesterday, the first day that the sport became illegal. Despite the friendly exchanges between officers and huntsmen and women, the presence of the police posed a question: what public good were they trying to uphold?
Daily Telegraph
20 February 2005.
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| Party Views (Updated February 2006) |
The main parties in the UK Parliament have different views on hunting - find out what they are and how your MP votes regarding a ban.
Note: MP's voted 'according to their conscience' when voting regarding hunting - not according to the views of their political party, which is known as a 'free vote'.
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The Labour Party
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 In the House of Commons
The majority of Labour MPs in the House of Commons strongly support a ban on hunting - as is frequently mentioned in the press. Only 12 of the Labour MPs who voted on 30th June 2003 voted against a ban, 329 supported a ban, this fell to only 3 voting against in September 2004
However those who voted against a ban are likely to have done so because they supported the government-backed option of licensing and not because they support hunting. One Labour MP is a noteable exception - Kate Hoey, Labour MP for Vauxhall and ex-sports minister, supports the freedom to hunt.
Party leader and Prime Minister Tony Blair has not recently voted on hunting - however in his last vote on hunting on 18 March 2002 he voted for a full ban and abstained from the licensing option.
In the House of Lords
The majority of Labour members of the House of Lords however, do not support a ban on hunting. Only 40 supported then-MP Tony Banks' amendment [for a total ban - going against the Government's preffered option of licensing], whereas the other 156 Labour peers either backed the Lords reversal amendment (to re-introduce the licensing scheme) or abstained.
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The Conservative Party
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 In the House of Commons
The majority of Conservative MPs in the House of Commons strongly support hunting - only 6 voted for a total ban in June - 115 voted against it.
Those against hunting include Miss Ann Widdecombe (Maidstone & The Weald), Sir Teddy Taylor (Rochford & Southend East)* & John Taylor (Solihull)*.
Those who vote against a ban on hunting do not do so necessarily because they support hunting itself but because of their beliefs of freedom and non-regulation.
Leader David Cameron, and previous leaders Michael Howard, Iain Duncan-Smith and William Hague have all voted against a ban.
In the House of Lords
Conservative members of the House of Lords support hunting - none vote against it.
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The Liberal Democrats
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 In the House of Commons
The majority of Liberal Democrat MPs in the House of Commons support a hunting ban - however a significant number support 'the liberty to hunt'. 26 voted for a hunting ban and 18 voted against.
The general Lib Dem party policy is a total ban on hunting with dogs.
The voting of several Lib Dem MPs to ban hunting - including former leader Charles Kennedy - whose constituencies are in Scotland, caused fury. As hunting is banned in Scotland, the Hunting Bill would have no effect in the country.
The parliamentary middle-way group - who campaign for hunting to be licensed not simply banned - is chaired by Lib Dem MP Lembit Öpik, he is also a member of the Hunting Bill standing committee.
In the House of Lords
The majority of Lib Dems in the House of Lords either vote against a hunting ban or abstain.
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Plaid Cymru
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In the House of Commons
The general party view on hunting is not clear, however all of their four MPs (at the time), Elfyn Llwyd (Leader of Westminster party, Meirionnydd Nant Conwy); Hywel Williams (Caernarfon); Simon Thomas (Ceredigion)* and Adam Price (Carmarthen East & Dinefwr) voted against a complete ban on hunting with dogs in September 2004, favouring the licensing option. Hywel Williams is also a pro-hunting member of the Hunting Standing committee.
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Scottish National Party
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In the House of Commons
The general policy of the SNP is against hunting with dogs - several members helped ban hunting in Scotland.
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Ulster Unionist Party
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In the House of Commons
Naturally, hunting is not high on the agenda of parties in Northern Ireland.
However during hunting debates at Westminster, then-leader of the party David Trimble, voted against a full ban on 17th January 2001 - in all votes since, he abstained.
Two of the six UUP MPs at the time: David Burnside (Antrim South)* and Lady Sylvia Hermon (Down North) voted against an outright hunting ban in September 2004, the others abstained.
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Democratic Unionist Party
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In the House of Commons
Leader Reverend Ian Paisley has abstained from every vote on hunting to be held since the 2001 general election.
In June, one MP, Peter Robinson (Belfast East), voted against an outright hunting ban, the other MPs abstained.
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Independents
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In the House of Commons
Independent Dr Richard Taylor (KHHC Wyre Forest) also voted against an outright ban in June.
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General Election 2005
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* After the 2005 General Election, some of the MP's listed above either retired or lost their seats, they are shown using an asterisk.
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What is my MP's view of fox hunting and how does he/she vote regarding a ban?
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| Guardian Unlimited: Ask Aristotle |
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To find out how your MP has voted in the votes on Hunting, enter their name or your postcode below.
1. Enter the name of you MP below, if you don't know who they are - enter your town or postcode.
2. When the results appear select your MP.
3. Click 'How have they voted?'
4. The page lists all the major votes that have taken place since the election and how your MP voted. The last major hunting vote was on 16.09.2004. |
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Disclaimer: Guardian Unlimited has no connection with our site in any respects, we are providing you with this form and it is not endorsed by Guardian Unlimited - politics.guardian.co.uk |
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For a full list of all the UK MP's and how they voted on 16 September 2004 - go to this page and use your browsers 'find' option to locate your MP.
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Please note
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| All the above information is intended as a guide only. For links to the related political parties, see the Web Links page. For a guide to each of the parties views at the height of the debate - the 2001 General Election, see the BBC News 'Vote2001: Main Issues: Fox Hunting' page. |
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