Public support for fox hunting is at an all-time low – Theresa May was right to abandon a free vote on the issue

With so much more important legislation on Brexit, such a vote would have been a waste of months of parliamentary effort, and the rest of the world would have concluded that the British had lost focus

Perhaps there is a case for revisiting the ban, but there is little sign that public opinion has shifted very far (Getty)

One of the many unforced errors that Theresa May made in the 2017 general election campaign was a pledge to hold a free vote on fox hunting in the House of Commons. That, as with so much else, was predicated on a thumping Tory majority, which did not in fact transpire, in small part because her policy on hunting reminded a few swing-voters about the issue and prompted them to vote for the opposition. The rest, as they say, is history, and not particularly uplifting history either.

The truth is that the free vote on fox hunting was a dead letter for the “dead woman walking” on the morning after polling day. In a hung parliament it would have been a long and protracted affair, and bloody with it.

A new poll reported by The Independent today shows that 85 per cent of the public support maintaining the current ban on hunting with hounds. But when it was introduced in 2004 by the Blair government, which at the time enjoyed a landslide majority, it was a struggle to get the legislation through. Mr Blair, looking back in his memoirs, called it a mistake and remarked: “If I’d proposed solving the pension problem by compulsory euthanasia for every fifth pensioner, I’d have got less trouble for it.”

There’s every reason to believe that, going in the reverse direction, Ms May would have had just as much trouble, strong and stable majority or not. It’s an issue on which some Tories would have rebelled, which would have been tangled up in the Lords and attracted huge protests. It is divisive, and arouses deep emotions. With so much vastly more important legislation on Brexit, it would also have been a waste of months of parliamentary effort, and the rest of the world would have concluded that the British lost all focus.

The other truth about the ban is that it hasn’t been actively enforced around the countryside. That may be a matter of relief to the Boxing Day hunts, or regret for the passionate opponents of the activity, but it is a matter of fact, and weakens the case for a new law.

The situation today is unsatisfactory, then, because the law is unclear and often unenforced. Perhaps there is a case for revisiting the ban, but there is little sign that public opinion has shifted very far, nor any more prospect for some happier compromise than Mr Blair achieved, at considerable cost, in 2004. In practice, the Government had little option but to drop the proposed free vote, and Ms May was wise to let sleeping hounds lie. She has better things to hunt, and needs no distractions.