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British parliament skips house of lords on fox hunting ban { September 15 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/15/international/europe/15CND-BRIT.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/15/international/europe/15CND-BRIT.html
September 15, 2004
Amid Protests, House of Commons Votes to Ban Fox Hunting
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ
LONDON, Sept. 15 — After a day of rowdy demonstrations that saw five protesters storm the chamber at the House of Commons, legislators voted today to outlaw the centuries-old sport of fox hunting with hounds.
The vote, 356 to 166, followed an emotional debate between supporters of the ban, who called fox hunting barbaric, elitist and hopelessly outmoded, and opponents, who accused the government of intruding on people's civil liberties and trampling on their rural way of life.
Supporters said they would force the bill through the House of Lords, which has fiercely opposed any attempt at curbing fox hunting, by invoking a rarely-used law called the 1949 Parliament Act. The act allows for bills to become law in the event of a deadlock.
"Fox hunting is unacceptable in 21st-century modern Britain," said a Labor Party Commons member, Claire Ward. "What they are doing is wrong, and we need to stand against it."
But the debate was soon overshadowed by the raucous demonstrators and the mounting chaos outside. Five men managed to bolt into the chamber and confront members as they debated the bill, prompting a 25-minute suspension of the proceedings. The men were quickly tackled by doorkeepers and later arrested, but the intrusion raised alarming concerns about security at Westminster and prompted a new round of debate about the protests.
A few months ago protesters lobbed flour-filled condoms at Prime Minister Tony Blair as he spoke inside the chamber. At that time, a major security overhaul was ordered. And this week, a man from the same group, Fathers 4 Justice, scaled a fence at Buckingham Palace and climbed on a balcony. He was wearing a Batman costume.
"This incident is simply unacceptable," said the leader of the Commons, Peter Hain. "Parliament simply must have modernized security procedures."
Outside, the police confronted a raucous throng of protesters and, at one point, wielded truncheons to pacify them, bloodying some heads in the process.
But most of the thousands of protesters — a mix of young and old, town and country, tweed and leather — demonstrated peacefully, waving placards that read, "Bollocks to Blair" and "Fight Prejudice, Fight the Ban." A woman in a fox costume stripped down to her bikini and showed off a bare stomach that read, "For fox sake, don't ban hunting."
"This has nothing to do with animal welfare and has everything to do with the people who hunt," said Nicholas Gent, a 53-year-old stockbroker who stood in the crowd. "It is a form of class warfare and they shouldn't discriminate against us."
Others said they worried about the growing urbanization of Britain and the loss of country jobs. "If they ban fox hunting, they will try to ban other things: fishing, falconry," said Tony Bryan, 52, a falconer from Gloucestershire. "I'm here to fight for my living."
It was the ninth time in 10 years that the House of Commons has voted on a fox hunting ban, but, with the House of Lords vehemently opposed to it, the bill has never cleared Parliament.
This time, though, Labor members in the Commons who support the bill said they would use the Parliament Act, which has been invoked only three times before: In 1991 to allow Nazi war criminals to be brought to trial; in 1999 to put into effect the European Parliamentary Elections Act; and in 2000 to lower the age of homosexual consent.
Hunting advocates said they planned to take the government to court if the bill passes Parliament, by contesting the act. "We will, if necessary, fight it in the European Court of Human Rights, where we believe we have a very strong case," the chief executive of Countryside Alliance, Simon Hart, said at a news conference.
If that does not work, opponents said they would blatantly ignore the law and leave it to the government to try and force the issue.
The bill, which has always stoked lingering class divisions and resentment in Britain, was overwhelmingly backed by Labor members of the Commons. In 1997, when Mr. Blair was elected, the Labor Party vowed to outlaw the so-called blood sport. But Mr. Blair has found the issue politically explosive and has been reluctant, until recently, to push for the ban.
If the ban were to clear Parliament, it would outlaw fox hunting with dogs in both England and Wales as of July 2006, before the kickoff of that year's hunting season. Scotland has already instituted its own ban.
Those who support the ban say foxes, which are considered by many as vermin in Britain, suffer a slow and cruel death when they are attacked by hounds. Hunters dispute that characterization, arguing that dogs instinctively snap the fox's neck by shaking them, killing them instantly. They say that Labor politicians have needlessly turned fox hunting into an issue to score political points and annoy conservatives.
Public opinion surveys here show that most people oppose fox hunting with hounds.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
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