Cameron copies EU president in bid to ‘fix’ the fox hunting vote
David Don’t cry about it, David! Cameron whinges after being outflanked by the SNP.
The Conservative Government has responded to the Scottish National Party’s announcement that it will oppose changes to the Hunting Act – by postponing tomorrow’s (Wednesday) ‘free vote’ on the matter.
It seems if MPs are likely to freely vote against David Cameron’s wishes, he’d rather they didn’t vote at all. Someone should tell him, that defeats the point, really!
His tactic – shelving the vote until such time as he believes he has the advantage – copies that of European Parliament President Martin Schulz over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.
Faced with strong opposition for the part of the proposed TTIP deal that would allow corporations to take legal action against countries if national legislation was likely to affect profits (ISDS – it stands for Investor-State Dispute Settlement) – no matter whether it was in the best interests of the population or not – Schulz shelved a vote that had been scheduled for earlier this year.
The TTIP vote eventually took place last week, overshadowed by the Greek referendum and clouded by political sleight-of-hand that meant important amendments to the agreement like the cancellation of ISDS were not considered – replaced by watered-down options that left the underlying principle of corporate power over nation states intact.
In line with the European Parliament model, you can expect the hunting vote to return to Parliament in a different form, once Cameron and his cronies have worked out another dirty trick to slip it through unopposed.
This week’s vote had been intended to neutralise opposition from the SNP with a claim that it would bring England and Wales in line with the situation in Scotland – but the Scottish Nationalists said they were reviewing the ban north of the border and it would not be right to allow the law in England and Wales to change while that was going on.
The Prime Minister has not taken this with good grace.
“I find their position today entirely opportunistic,” he told a press conference.
Fellow Tory hunt supporter Owen Paterson chimed in to say the SNP had shown “extraordinary hypocrisy” in voting on a matter that affects England but not Scotland, and claimed they were “playing games in order to antagonise the English.”
He should have checked his facts.
If he had, he would have seen that a poll for the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show has suggested almost three in four British adults are against making fox hunting legal.
And SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon had already explained her party’s decision to take part in the hunting vote, saying there had been “overwhelming demand” from people in England.
The English, like the Welsh and the Scots, support the continuation of the hunting ban.
What a shame David Cameron cannot live with that.
Looking forward, we should probably expect fox hunting to return at a point after Cameron manages to force through another controversial plan – English Votes for English Laws (EVEL). He had to shelve that one last week.
Perhaps Ms Sturgeon is right, and he really is “not master of all he surveys in the House of Commons”.
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I am happy to let you all know that our Labour MP for North Shropshire opposes sadistic fox hunting.
Rupert I do believe that you are correct in what you say…. I live in North Shropshire too. My regret for my part is that it has been Tory for much too long.
As it stands EVEL only proposes that MPs get a veto on new legislation, it doesn’t stop the Scots voting on the repeal etc :D
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-votes-for-english-laws-proposed-changes#history
Thanks for,that Rachel it’s beyond comprehension I really do despair with what is happening in our wonderful country. Who is pulling the strings US maybe?
It does cover repealing legislation. The reason is that a repeal of a law is a new law. There is no such thing as a repeal. Parliament only passes new laws. If Scottish MPs cannot vote on laws then they cannot vote on a new law to repeal them as it is still an English only law.
It isn’t an England-only law.
It covers England AND WALES.
Therefore any change to fox hunting law will have to be debated by the full UK Parliament.
Alas my Tub Of Lard, sorry MP is pro ripping foxes to pieces, but she is a Tub Of Lard after all and is not capable of any kind of thought and only says, writes and thinks what Camoron and his bunch of thugs tell her to!
Though this may be pyrrhic victory for Camoron is gloating and classless in victory and spiteful, graceless and nasty in defeat and like all bullies he has to win, so to paraphrase Arnie “he’ll be beck!” Hopefully for another hobnail booting to the gonads without the SNP who will surely suffer for daring to cross him and his bunch of Posh Boy Thugs! It’s not known as the Nasty party for nothing.
All MPs may well debate it, but Scottish MPS will not vote.
You think they won’t vote after EVEL comes in? That depends.
If they haven’t decided whether to change the law in Scotland, then they’ll vote.
If they have changed it, then the Conservative Government won’t want to change the law to match Scotland, because that would probably make fox hunting even less legal than it is now.
Scottish MPs won’t vote even though it includes Wales because of this
These proposals change the the way that the House of Commons considers legislation. The changes would mean that MPs with constituencies in England (and where relevant England and Wales) are asked to give their consent to legislation that only affects England (or England and Wales)
Ah, so the Conservative Government was lying about wanted ‘English Votes for English Laws’ then.
Gotcha.
Does that mean that English MPs also rule Wales regardless of Welsh Feeling? I’m not comfortable with that at all !
I’m not comfortable with Camoron’s antics period, I just don’t know how low he and his Henchmen will stoop to get their own way, it really is frightening with so much else going belly up he can make so much noise about repealing the hunting act just so he and his pals who are in the national minority can brutalise a beautiful wild animal. My only reasoning behind this is that he owes a huge debt to someone and promised a return to the Dark Ages in repayment. Perhaps someone who pumped several million quid into Tory coffers on the understanding that they could go rampaging around the countryside chasing a poor fox to such a brutal and barbaric end? I have a better idea, let’s go hunt a Tory, see if they enjoy it?
More concerning is Camoron’s determination to bankrupt the Labour Party by destroying the unions, as if Thatcher hadn’t done enough? Their evil, animosity and downright nastiness and vindictiveness seems to know no bounds, as Thatcher’s revenge for Saltley Gate was to destroy a whole Industry what I wonder is going on in Camoron’s single brain celled head?
crazytrucker1951 … Your play on words makes me laugh !…. ‘let’s go hunt a Tory’ now there is a novel idea that I really like!!