The last day of public hearings on hunting ended with neither side conceding any ground, and a promise from the Rural Affairs minister that he will be drafting legislation soon.
The third and final day of the public hearings into hunting concentrated on the application of principles of utility and cruelty.
Again, both sides of the debate refused to concede any ground, with evidence continually cited by the one side, and dismissed by the other.
Liam Slattery from the League Against Cruel Sports, said: “I think we put forward a concise argument that the case for banning hunting with dogs is clear. It is inherently cruel and is just not needed.”
However, chairman of the Countryside Alliance Richard Burge, said: “This valuable process has shown that there is no evidence either on utility or cruelty grounds for any kind of ban on hunting – although there may well be a case for some form of independent regulation.”
Rural Affairs Minister Alun Michael, in his statement at the end of the three days, said he should be drafting new proposals for legislation on hunting with dogs within weeks.
However, contrary to reports today in The Daily Telegraph that new proposals on future legislation could come before Parliament “within a matter of weeks”, a Bill is extremely unlikely to be introduced until after the Queen’s Speech towards the end of the year.
Mr Michael said last night that his intentions were “to set out proposals for Parliament, which can form good and robust law and can take us forward into the 21st Century.”
The hearings are webcast live on UK Online.
Click here to read about day two of the Hunting Hearings.
Click here to read about day one of the Hunting Hearings.
