General Election 2019: Justice secretary Robert Buckland hints at shift on fox hunting
Justice secretary Robert Buckland has hinted that fox hunting may be off the agenda this election campaign.
Speaking ahead of the Conservatives’ manifesto launch, expected this weekend, the frontbencher told Sky News he thought it was unlikely Boris Johnson would revive the topic.
Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May pledged to hold a free vote to potentially overturn the ban on fox hunting, put through by Tony Blair in 2004. But she quickly rowed back on it, after the disastrous election campaign left her without a majority.
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This morning Buckland said: “I don’t see a return to that at all. I think the agenda has moved on.
“We are now talking in our own policies about strong animal welfare measures. We are cracking down on issues like live transport. We are dealing with trophy hunting, the keeping of primates as pets.”
“I am not going to anticipate what is in the manifesto, but I would be surprised if we saw a return to to those old debates.”
Buckland this morning confirmed tough new laws that will ensure “life means life” for adults who murder children.
A Conservative government will reform the law to make sure that the premeditated murder of a child is treated as a whole life order, meaning that a prisoner will never be eligible for release.
This follows a commitment already made by the government to toughen sentences for the most serious violent and sexual offenders by abolishing early release at the half way point of a convicted criminal’s sentence.
Main image: Getty