Hunting Bill — 17 Jan 2001

Question again proposed, That the clause stand part of the Bill.

most of them covered with blood . . . were running riot through the children's play area . . . and the poor school children were fending off the dogs with their satchels.

It follows that the welfare of animals which are hunted should be compared with the welfare which, on a realistic assessment, would be likely to result from the legal methods used by farmers and others to manage the population of these animals in the event of a ban on hunting.

Human entertainment is inadequate justification for the destruction of life.

I have leaflets here--I shall not detain the House by quoting from them--in which the league condemns virtually every other activity that is classified as a field sport.

Fear, distress, suffering and pain are all defined in terms of human subjective experience.

It is important that as full an account as possible of the physiological effects of hunting deer and other species be obtained to allow a justifiable scientific stand . . . If hunting is to be rejected on scientific grounds then the scientific evidence should be more conclusive than it is at present.

The BHB believes that a ban on hunting with dogs would severely undermine the present scale of Point-to-Pointing, and that this in turn would have a damaging impact on British Racing.

The mink swims better than the vole and the female is small enough to follow the water vole into its burrow. In other words, the mink is perfectly designed to kill the water vole.

Staffordshire Wildlife Trust wants to take immediate action to counter the threats from habitat change, man and mink to prevent the water vole becoming extinct . . .

I think the banning option is impossible to enforce, and once we stir up the police about its weakness they will be terrified of trying to implement it.

essentially carried out for recreational purposes.

For 90 per cent. or more of any hunt--

they--

are not fleeing in terror of their lives, but rather are responding in a remarkably controlled manner to an entirely natural, albeit adverse stimulus.

It is only in the short final stages of the hunt that the quarry comes under any serious stress and that no more, in physiological terms, than the extended athlete or racehorse.

There is--

no apparent premonition of death.

If they ban it, we'll be overrun. It'll be a disaster. The fox will be a hell of a lot less healthy.

For ground nesting birds it would be devastation. If they stopped around the lake, I don't know how we would deal with them.

The House of Lords prevented the foxhunting Bill from proceeding.--[ Official Report , 13 July 2000; Vol. 353, c. 1102.]

Deer live in relatively small home ranges, moving about them slowly except when disturbed by humans, dogs and vehicles. Nothing in the course of a deer's life resembles being hunted by hounds; known patterns of predation by wolves do not resemble hunting. Taken together with the physiological effects of hunting, it is clear that hunting with hounds would not be tolerated in other areas of animal husbandry.

scientists agree that deer are likely to suffer in the final stages of hunting.

the hounds were all around us and on top of me. I thought I was going to have a heart attack but I held on tightly because I knew that if they got hold of her they would rip her apart . . . The whole incident lasted for at least five minutes . . . eventually a hunter arrived . . . I demanded that they take me to a vet. They seemed reluctant and asked if I had a car myself.

ripping it apart in front of us . . . no one from the hunt was at the scene and . . . the dogs were running riot through people's gardens and through a children's play area. Many of them were covered in blood . . . children were fending off the dogs with their satchels. The poor kids were terrified.

Over 20 years I have suffered more damage through the activities of the hunt than ever from those of the fox.

It may be hard to understand but, intimidated by events and fearful of reprisals from the hunting set, it was only after all these incidents that I plucked up the courage to complain to them. I asked them to let me know when they would be in the area--they refused.

The villagers decided to protest after violence . . . broke out at a hunt . . . and resulted in six arrests.

to oppose the infliction of pain and suffering in the name of sport.

the case for fish feeling pain is surprisingly complete.

the pain fish feel as a result of injury is likely to be just as important to them in their own way as human pain is to humans.

It being Ten o'clock, The Chairman put the Question, pursuant to Orders [ 7 November and 20 December 2000 ].

Question put, That the clause stand part of the Bill:--

The Committee divided: Ayes 155, Noes 399.

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Party Summary

Votes by party, red entries are votes against the majority for that party.

What is Tell? '+1 tell' means that in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.

What are Boths? An MP can vote both aye and no in the same division. The boths page explains this.

What is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.

PartyMajority (No)Minority (Aye)BothTurnout
Con8 137 (+2 tell)091.9%
DUP0 1033.3%
Independent0 1050.0%
Lab362 (+2 tell) 1087.5%
LDem26 11078.7%
PC2 0050.0%
UKUP0 10100.0%
UUP1 3044.4%
Total:399 155086.8%

Rebel Voters - sorted by party

MPs for which their vote in this division differed from the majority vote of their party. You can see all votes in this division, or every eligible MP who could have voted in this division

Sort by: Name | Constituency | Party | Vote

NameConstituencyPartyVote
Sir David AmessSouthend WestCon (front bench)no
Mr David AtkinsonBournemouth EastConno
Mr Stephen DayCheadleConno
Roger GaleNorth ThanetCon (front bench)no
John RandallUxbridgeCon (front bench)no
Mr John TaylorSolihullConno
Mr Teddy TaylorRochford and Southend EastConno
Ann WiddecombeMaidstone and The WealdConno
Mr Peter Temple-MorrisLeominsterwhilst Labaye
Alan BeithBerwick-upon-TweedLDem (front bench)aye
Colin BreedSouth East CornwallLDemaye
Malcolm BruceGordonLDem (front bench)aye
Mr John BurnettTorridge and West DevonLDemaye
Menzies CampbellNorth East FifeLDemaye
Nick HarveyNorth DevonLDem (front bench)aye
Mr Archy KirkwoodRoxburgh and BerwickshireLDem (front bench)aye
Mr Richard LivseyBrecon and RadnorshireLDem (front bench)aye
Michael MooreTweeddale, Ettrick and LauderdaleLDem (front bench)aye
Robert SmithWest Aberdeenshire and KincardineLDem (front bench)aye
Mr Paul TylerNorth CornwallLDem (front bench)aye
Mr William ThompsonWest TyroneUUPno

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