I’m listening to David Cameron on BBC3 Dermot Meets David Cameron and realised a Conservative ‘untruth’.
David Cameron is talking about a Big Society (which is total waffle IMO) and said they want to listen to the people and if they gain power after May 6th they’ll bring in the ability for the British people to create petitions that if enough people vote for (5% I believe) the Conservative government will debate the petition in parliament and presumably bring it into power.
Sounds great right.
Are we forgetting the Labour ban of fox hunting?
Conservatives Plan to Allow Fox Hunting
We’ve had a vote in parliament that banned fox hunting, the Conservatives in the House of Lords tried to block it: which they are not supposed to do (the House of Lords was acting undemocratic) since banning fox hunting was part of the Labour election manifesto and so the Speaker of the House had to use a rarely used power to push the new legislation through!
So the people have spoken, we voted for Labour and one of their promises was to ban fox hunting which is exactly what we got.
Polls shows around 75% of British people agree with the fox hunting ban. That is a clear majority and yet the Conservatives intend if they gain power to take another look at this legislation and give the house a free vote on fox hunting, basically if the Conservatives have a clear majority fox hunting will be part of the British countryside again!!!
Does this not mean when fox hunting is allowed again we’ll inevitably get a ban fox hunting petition and it will not be hard to get 5% of people to vote on a ban fox hunting petition.
Will this mean in the space of one parliament the Conservatives will both remove the ban on fox hunting and then because the people don’t want fox hunting, ban fox hunting again?
David Cameron also said we’ll be able to vote against a rise in our council tax. Hmm, anyone here want their council tax to go up?
Bloody stupid idea and there is no way they will allow us to stop tax rises etc… because 5% of us don’t like something.
Any movement towards or away from fox hunting will be slow and take place over many many years. Looking at the bigger picture, it seems that the tide is moving only one way, towards a more compassionate society, and away from animal persecution. The fox hunting ban was just one small step in this direction, irrespective of whether it works or not.
Last year i heard for the first time, the question asked in Spain “is bull fighting right or wrong?” Just the first step, but it means that ultimately it is doomed. It may take a hundred years..
David Cameron is a clever politician. He knows that to repeal the hunting ban, or to even try but fail will lead to him being a one term prime minister. This explains his “nonchalant” mood when he has spoken about the matter recently. Labour were a down and out party at the last general election, Gordon Brown was a man who just “wanted to get the hell out of there”. Yet still the conservatives could not win. Conservative MPs are now beginning to change their stance on hunting, so i don’t think we need fear it being made legal again.
The bigger picture.