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'Bad government' of fox hunting ban
THE ban on fox hunting has been highlighted as a "notorious example of bad government" in a damning report by a group of former senior civil servants calling for the urgent reform of government.
Introduced in 2004, the ban is described as an example of ministers chasing headlines with "ill thought out" legislation and ranked alongside Margaret Thatcher's detested Poll Tax and Labour's much-derided Millennium Dome.
The Better Government Initiative (BGI) – which claims the way Britain is governed has gone badly wrong – said any problem facing government becomes political, "and the need to score or refute political points became more important than the need to resolve the problem itself".
Labour's policy to drive through a ban on hunting dominated the early stages of Tony Blair's administration, despite spin doctor Alastair Campbell's diaries later revealing the PM himself had misgivings about the policy.
The BGI report warned: "There has been too much legislation in recent years, some of it has been unnecessary and too much of it has been badly prepared."
Tory Shadow Environment Secretary Nick Herbert said: "This is bad law, and bad laws should be repealed. A Conservative Government will give Parliament the opportunity to repeal the Hunting Act on a free vote, with a government bill in government time."
The report also revealed Treasury civil servants were effectively bypassed by special advisers loyal to Gordon Brown when he was the Chancellor, and said the number of party political special advisers should be cut.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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