A government plan to effectively bring back fox-hunting in England and Wales has been put on hold. This was an amendment to the Hunting Act to allow foxes to be flushed out with a pack of dogs, rather than just the two allowed, before the fox was shot. The planned vote on the issue has now been postponed.

The shelving of the vote, which has enraged all the mostly-Tory MP’s supporting hunting, was made after the Scottish National Party broke their pledge not to vote on matters that did not affect Scotland and vowed to destroy the government’s likely tiny majority on the issue by voting against them.

There is a view that the issue did in fact affect Scotland, where hunting with packs of dogs is still legal, in that those sophisticated English and Welsh hunters keen to enjoy the sight of a live fox torn to bits by a demented dog-pack have had to go to Scotland, and spend their money there, to get their pleasure. The watering-down of the Hunting Act in England and Wales would have deprived the Scottish economy of these valuable tourists.