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Rural Affairs Minister Alun Michael unveiled the Labor government's proposed compromise on fox hunting with dogs which avoids a ban in favor of a licensure procedure which would judge most hunts on a case-by-case basis.
The proposal would assign individual bureacrats to evaluate license applications for fox hunts. In order to be approved, a hunt would have to demonstrate that it would not be cruel while simultaneously demosntrating that the hunt was necessary as a form of pest control. Those decisions could then be appealed to a tribunal which would have the final say in the matter.
The Labor govenrment also proposed an outright ban on hare coursing and stag hunting. Ratting, rabbitting and falconry, however, will all be allowed to continue without futher hindrance.
Predictably, this sort of half-measure didn't satisfy either side of the fox hunting debate, with pro-fox hunting groups saying it constitutes a de facto ban, while anti-fox hunting groups saying it doesn't go nearly far enough to end fox hunting.
Sources:
Hunting compromise outlined. The BBC, December 3, 2002.
Britain expected to propose fox hunting compromise. Reuters, December 4, 2002.