Tuesday, December 21, 2004
HERE WE GO AGAIN
'BACKDOOR' BAN ON SHOOTING?
WESTERN MORNING NEWS -
The Labour Party is under mounting pressure to open the way for restrictions on the sport of shooting in its next manifesto, as animal rights campaigners celebrate their success in securing a ban on hunting.
The WMN has learned that the League Against Cruel Sports has started lobbying Labour to ensure that the current pledge to leave shooting alone is lifted in the party's election manifesto next year.
League spokesman Mike Hobday told the WMN: "The last Labour manifesto said the Government would not place any restrictions on shooting - that gave shooting a get out of jail free card, no matter what the welfare problems. That is clearly unrealistic.
"We would anticipate Labour's next manifesto taking a more sophisticated approach that will leave the way open for welfare problems to be dealt with."
Labour's animal welfare society is already carrying an article on its website entitled "Hunting down - shooting to go", and the prominent anti-hunting MP Tony Banks tabled a Commons motion last week calling for restrictions on game shooting.
The article, contributed by the group Animal Aid, called for "a ban on breeding pheasants for sport shooting".
Earlier this month the Labour-dominated Commons environment committee also called for restrictions on the rearing of pheasants for game shooting to be added to the new Animal Welfare Bill when it goes before Parliament early next year.
Although there is virtually no prospect of a total ban on shooting in the foreseeable future, there is growing evidence that game shooting could face a "backdoor ban" through a series of onerous restrictions on "animal welfare" grounds that could make the sport uneconomic.
Tim Bonner, of the Countryside Alliance, told the WMN that the lobbying, coupled with controversial Government plans to restrict the use of shotguns, posed a major threat to the Westcountry's multi-million pound shooting industry."The league's agenda was always to move on to attack shooting once they had got a ban on hunting, and it is quite clear that the agenda is being adopted by the Parliamentary Labour Party," he said."The animal rights lobby is an industry - these groups have huge resources. But in order to sustain themselves they have to move onto their next target."
Speaking in the House of Lords last week, Food and Farming Minister Lord Whitty insisted that the Government had "no intention of placing restrictions on the sport of shooting".He said he could see "no reason" why this stance should be changed in the next Labour manifesto.
However, Mr Bonner said the first moves towards a "backdoor ban" were already emerging."The Government's vision of shooting doesn't extend much beyond clay pigeons," he said."The game shooting industry, which is a huge employer in the South West, needs to realise, if it hasn't already, that restrictions are on the way."We have already had this ludicrous proposal from the Home Office that inner city gun crime could be tackled by restricting legitimate shotgun use, despite the fact that there is no evidence whatsoever to link the two."The environment committee has pointed the way to further restrictions by suggesting a limit on the number of birds that can be reared."That is an attempt to target stocking densities, which would clear out much of the commercial shooting along the south of Exmoor, for a start."The agenda of animal rights organisations and Labour MPs, is one and the same, and shooting is now the top item."Even if Defra ministers do not collude with MPs, as they have done in the past, they will be again powerless to control the vast majority of their colleagues."
WESTERN MORNING NEWS -
The Labour Party is under mounting pressure to open the way for restrictions on the sport of shooting in its next manifesto, as animal rights campaigners celebrate their success in securing a ban on hunting.
The WMN has learned that the League Against Cruel Sports has started lobbying Labour to ensure that the current pledge to leave shooting alone is lifted in the party's election manifesto next year.
League spokesman Mike Hobday told the WMN: "The last Labour manifesto said the Government would not place any restrictions on shooting - that gave shooting a get out of jail free card, no matter what the welfare problems. That is clearly unrealistic.
"We would anticipate Labour's next manifesto taking a more sophisticated approach that will leave the way open for welfare problems to be dealt with."
Labour's animal welfare society is already carrying an article on its website entitled "Hunting down - shooting to go", and the prominent anti-hunting MP Tony Banks tabled a Commons motion last week calling for restrictions on game shooting.
The article, contributed by the group Animal Aid, called for "a ban on breeding pheasants for sport shooting".
Earlier this month the Labour-dominated Commons environment committee also called for restrictions on the rearing of pheasants for game shooting to be added to the new Animal Welfare Bill when it goes before Parliament early next year.
Although there is virtually no prospect of a total ban on shooting in the foreseeable future, there is growing evidence that game shooting could face a "backdoor ban" through a series of onerous restrictions on "animal welfare" grounds that could make the sport uneconomic.
Tim Bonner, of the Countryside Alliance, told the WMN that the lobbying, coupled with controversial Government plans to restrict the use of shotguns, posed a major threat to the Westcountry's multi-million pound shooting industry."The league's agenda was always to move on to attack shooting once they had got a ban on hunting, and it is quite clear that the agenda is being adopted by the Parliamentary Labour Party," he said."The animal rights lobby is an industry - these groups have huge resources. But in order to sustain themselves they have to move onto their next target."
Speaking in the House of Lords last week, Food and Farming Minister Lord Whitty insisted that the Government had "no intention of placing restrictions on the sport of shooting".He said he could see "no reason" why this stance should be changed in the next Labour manifesto.
However, Mr Bonner said the first moves towards a "backdoor ban" were already emerging."The Government's vision of shooting doesn't extend much beyond clay pigeons," he said."The game shooting industry, which is a huge employer in the South West, needs to realise, if it hasn't already, that restrictions are on the way."We have already had this ludicrous proposal from the Home Office that inner city gun crime could be tackled by restricting legitimate shotgun use, despite the fact that there is no evidence whatsoever to link the two."The environment committee has pointed the way to further restrictions by suggesting a limit on the number of birds that can be reared."That is an attempt to target stocking densities, which would clear out much of the commercial shooting along the south of Exmoor, for a start."The agenda of animal rights organisations and Labour MPs, is one and the same, and shooting is now the top item."Even if Defra ministers do not collude with MPs, as they have done in the past, they will be again powerless to control the vast majority of their colleagues."
