Peers try to save Middle Way

Peers are voting on foxhunting tonight with the Government struggling to get its compromise proposals back on track.

Pro-hunting campaigners are lobbying for a big vote in favour of the "middle way" option, allowing hunts to continue under licence.

But the middle way was rejected decisively by MPs last night, when they voted by 386 to 175 for an outright ban on hunting with hounds.

The result added to pressure on Rural Affairs Minister Alun Michael, charged with finding a way through the divide, to come up with a lasting solution to the hunting question.

Tonight the House of Lords will reject an outright ban, but there could be strong support for the middle way as well as the peers' preferred option, self-regulation which effectively means the status quo.

Conservative peer and hunt member Lord Mancroft told BBC Radio 4's Farming Today: "I don't think the game is up.

"We have two Houses of Parliament. The House of Commons doesn't always get its way. It is never too late for a compromise."

Only 12 Labour MPs supported the middle way, but they included three prominent Cabinet ministers - David Blunkett, Jack Straw and Robin Cook.

Tony Blair backed an outright ban, the first time he has voted on the issue since becoming Prime Minister.

Labour MP Tony Banks, one of the leading anti-hunt campaigners, said: "There is no middle way. You cannot compromise on cruelty."

And normally loyal Labour MP Gerald Kaufman warned that he would fight to the end to make sure that an outright ban reached the statute book.

As hunt followers protested in Parliament Square, MPs rejected the middle way by 371 votes to 169, while the status quo option was defeated by 401 votes to 154. Most Conservatives opposed an outright ban.

Following tonight's vote in the Lords, Mr Michael will make a statement on the way forward before the Commons rises for its Easter break next Tuesday.

He will come under pressure from Labour MPs to bring forward a Government Bill with the promise that it will be forced through, using the Government's power to override the House of Lords if necessary.

Phyllis Campbell-McRae, the UK director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, called on the Government to reintroduce last year's stalled Bill to ban hunting. She said: "The Government must now get on with the job and ban hunting. The quickest way to do that is to reintroduce the Hunting Bill."

Niel Hansen, spokesman for the National Anti-Hunt Campaign, said: "What does it matter to a hunted fox whether its tormentors have had to obtain a licence first?

"Mr Blair has repeatedly promised the British people a ban. This has now gone beyond being simply an issue of animal welfare and is now a test of the integrity and trustworthiness of this Government."

But Simon Hart, director of the Campaign for Hunting at the Countryside Alliance, said: "At the end of the first half - if you regard the vote in the Lords as the second - the situation is no change.

"Those supporting a ban in the Commons are not allowing the evidence to affect their vision. This issue needs to be resolved, quickly and efficiently."

How the London MPs voted
Do you support an outright ban?