CONSERVATIVE
New Forest East

DEFRA – ABOLITION OF FOX-HUNTING - 15 September 2004

DEFRA – ABOLITION OF FOX-HUNTING - 15 September 2004

[Andrew Robathan: ... Most people in the House – like most people outside – do not really care very much about hunting but they will subject the few people who hunt to the loss of their sport, and for many, of their livelihood, for petty, mean-minded reasons.]

Dr Julian Lewis: I wonder whether my hon. Friend heard the "Today" programme this morning, when Mr George Monbiot of the Left-wing press was boasting of the fact that the measure, if carried, would be the biggest blow of a social nature to the upper classes since the abolition of the hereditaries in the House of Lords. It is good to have that sort of admission.

[Mr Robathan: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention. I did not hear Mr Monbiot, but of course, that is unfortunately what a lot of people think.]