Hunting Act 2004 - Royal Assent

Royal Assent

A bill identical to the one passed by the House of Commons in 2003 was reintroduced to the Commons on 9 September 2004. It received Royal Assent as the Hunting Act 2004 on 18 November 2004 when Michael Martin, Speaker of the House of Commons, invoked the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, with the bill not having received the approval of the House of Lords who had preferred an Act that regulated hunting with dogs. The Parliament Acts are rarely invoked, the Hunting Act was only the seventh statute since 1911 enacted under their provisions.

The final passing of the legislation was considered very controversial with the unelected House of Lords criticised for being undemocratic block on the legislation with other newspapers and broadcasters condemning Tony Blair's Labour administration for giving in to what they perceived as the prejudicial views of anti-hunting Labour backbenchers. MPs of all parties voting for the legislation asserted that hunting caused unnecessary suffering and said that they represented the majority of the public who favoured a ban on hunting with dogs. Their assertion of majority support for the thrust of the legislation seems to have some basis in evidence, a September 2002 survey commissioned by The Daily Telegraph indicated that a majority of people (57%) agreed with the statement that 'hunting with dogs is never acceptable'. A survey by MORI for the BBC carried out in February 2005 found that there was a plurality (47% supporting, 26% opposed) of support for the new legislation, but not an absolute majority. Subsequently, polling conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the League Against Cruel Sports in 2010 has shown 76% opposition to repealing the Hunting Act with only 18% support for repeal. This poll also showed 71% of rural residents wanted to see fox hunting remain illegal.