Tim Bonner: Hunting wins in Northern Ireland

On Monday the Northern Ireland Assembly in Stormont threw out a private members bill to ban hunting which was introduced by assembly member John Blair of the Alliance party. Northern Ireland has consistently resisted attempts to impose the sort of prejudiced hunting legislation we have seen in England, Scotland and Wales. With the encouragement of a concerted campaign from Countryside Alliance Northern Ireland and the hunting community, bolstered by opposition from a range of rural organisations including the Ulster Farmers Union and BASC Northern Ireland, assembly members rejected what was an appallingly drafted and totally unjustified bill.

One of the more bizarre aspects of modern political discourse, however, is the willingness of elected representatives to allow themselves to be influenced by created perceptions of public opinion. Mr Blair, who had previously claimed to be a supporter of country sports, had clearly been persuaded that hunting was so far beyond the pale that he could mislead and misrepresent to his heart's content without any consequence. Rather like his namesake, the Labour Prime Minister who was astounded by the hundreds of thousands of us who appeared from the countryside to demonstrate against Labour's bigoted hunting ban, this Mr Blair seemed slightly shocked when thousands of people in Northern Ireland objected to his proposals. Rather than actually engaging with those who hunt and understand the countryside, though, Mr Blair doubled down and produced a public 'consultation' which cynically created an opportunity for every animal rights activist in the world to give their views on hunting in Northern Ireland on exactly the same basis as people who actually live in the province.

Mr Blair's subsequent claims to have a majority of support for his bill were therefore not just misleading, but deeply dishonest. He was more interested in collecting the views of animal rights activists in Arizona than he was of the rural community in Armagh. Thankfully the majority of his fellow assembly members were not fooled by this dishonesty, nor did they accept that Mr Blair's bill was not just an attack on hunting, but also on shooting, farming and almost every other rural activity. His legislation was so badly drafted that it would have potentially criminalised every dog owner in Northern Ireland.

The rural community in Northern Ireland did not only have to contend with Mr Blair's dishonesty and the Alliance party. They were also subjected to our state broadcaster, the BBC, running the most blatantly partial news coverage I have experienced in nearly 20 years of dealing with the media. On the morning of the debate being held in the Stormont assembly on the future of hunting in Northern Ireland, BBC radio's flagship news programme, Today, ran an interview with Mr Blair which gave him free rein to voice the most outrageous untruths about hunting and his proposed legislation without any opportunity for response. He was given a platform to promote his prejudice without challenge or any alternative view. This was wholly unacceptable and clearly in breach of the BBC's own editorial guidelines. We will pursue a complaint through the BBC's byzantine complaints process, and to the ends of the earth if necessary, until we have a proper resolution. Nor should Mr Blair, or any of his colleagues, think that they will get anything other than continued staunch opposition if they choose to reintroduce this sort of divisive and pointless attack on the rights of people in the Northern Irish countryside.