The hunting debate returns – and with it, the chance to strengthen the rural vote

So hunting returns to the front page of the Telegraph, just like old times. But today provides an intriguing variation on the norm. Instead of Tories calling on the Prime Minister to scrap the Act (my preferred route) we have Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru leading calls to make some relatively minor changes in the light of a new study into the Hunting Act’s failings.

The detail is simple, if a little dull. At the moment farmers can only use two dogs to locate and flush a fox into the open so it can be shot to protect his livestock. The research shows that if you use two dogs instead of more you will find half as many foxes and chase those foxes for twice as long before you can shoot them. It was carried out in Scotland where there is no limit and farmers are suggesting we simply align England and Wales with Scottish law which has been grudgingly accepted both by farmers and those welfarists who designed and passed the law in the first place.