It’s a pointless waste of time for David Cameron to resurrect the hunting debate

Of all the election promises politicians make in the run-up to a general election the one most certain to remain unfulfilled is David Cameron’s pledge to try to repeal the foxhunting ban. He has said he will give MPs a free vote on the issue, but he promised something similar before the last election, only to be prevented from doing anything by his coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, who remain firmly opposed to hunting with hounds. So does the Labour party, and so does the public. A recent opinion poll found that 80 per cent of people in this country, in rural communities as much as in towns, want to keep the ban in force. So it’s only in the improbable circumstance of an absolute Tory majority after the election in May that a repeal is conceivable, and even then it is very unlikely. It would also be a pointless waste of time.