Tory government back down on Foxhunting exposes the lie of the stable majority

For now at least, the Foxhunting ban remains. Photograph: Fox Grooming via photopin (license) (cropped)

In response to the SNP making clear that it would opposed a relaxing of the laws on foxhunting, the Conservative government has withdrawn the vote it set on the issue (Mason, 2015). A vote had originally been scheduled for Wednesday (BBC, 2015), with the government accused of attempting to bring back foxhunting by the back door (Mason & Brooks, 2015).

The Conservative response in the media will likely be to cry foul on the SNP involving themselves in 'English affairs' (Mason & Brooks, 2015{2}; Jenkins, 2015). But the reality is that internal division is what has stopped this vote from going ahead - divisions that expose the lie of the stable majority.

With a majority in the Commons, the Conservatives should have been able to pass their 'relaxation' of the law. However they faced opposition from both backbenchers, and even ministers, within their own ranks (Helm, 2015).

Foxhunting is just the latest issue to expose the lie of majority rule, with a fragile Conservative government facing constant risks of internal rebellion. What is particularly notable, is that it is the more moderate Conservatives who are causing them so much trouble.

Under the Coalition, many of the more extreme Tory policies never even saw the light of day. The issues on which moderates are rebelling - including a threatened withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights Convention (Watt, 2015) and misrepresenting Britain's relationship with Europe (May, 2015) - were all options opposed and suppressed by the Liberal Democrats.

In fact, most of the struggles Cameron's Ministry have faced over their first two months in office have, seemingly against expectation (Cowley, 2015), come opposition from their moderate wing. The moderates seem to be working overtime to make up for the absence of a liberal influence in restraining the reactionary Far-Right.

Is it possible that they now feel that they took the Liberal Democrats for granted? Are they maybe beginning to regret the electoral strategy of directly assaulting their former coalition partners?

The compromises of the Coalition served the Conservatives well in allowing them to portray themselves as reasonable and responsible. Foxhunting is one of the issues that could undo all of that very quickly and return the toxicity to the Conservative 'brand' (Platt, 2015; Gosden et al, 2015).

Between the toxic nature of extremism and the internal factional divisions, here, exposed, are the flaws of majority government. Handed a virtual five year dictatorship - as long as they can keep their numbers together - there is nothing but self-restraint to prevent parties veering into their own extreme corners, and alienating the usually large proportion of the population who did not vote them into to power.

That power is on display in the matter of foxhunting, which the Tories apparently plan on returning to again in the autumn, once they have introduced their plans for Evel - English votes for English laws (Mason, 2015). The majority party hasn't gotten its way, so it is changing the rules.

Even if you accept the inequality of majority rule on the basis of 36% of the vote - and less than 25% of all eligible voters - internal divisions afflicting the Conservatives show that the system reflects no unanimity..

With electoral reform there might at least be a more honest exploration of beliefs through smaller parties, than found in squabbling big tents. There would also be hope for governments that would be based on a compromise that is representative of the views of broad parts of society - not simply imposing the will of a loud minority on everyone else.

References

Rowena Mason's 'Foxhunting vote shelved by government after SNP opposition'; in The Guardian; 14 July 2015.

'Fox hunting: SNP to vote against relaxing ban in England'; on the BBC; 14 July 2015.

Rowena Mason & Libby Brooks' 'MPs to get free vote on relaxing fox hunting ban next week'; in The Guardian; 8 July 2015.

Rowena Mason & Libby Brooks' 'Tory plan to relax foxhunting ban set to fail after threat from SNP'; in The Guardian; 13 July 2015{2}.

Simon Jenkins' 'With her cynical foxhunting vote, Sturgeon has joined the Westminster club'; in The Guardian; 14 July 2015.

Toby Helm's 'Top Tory leads rebellion against relaxation of foxhunting ban'; in The Guardian; 11 July 2015.

Nicholas Watt's 'Threat to exit human rights convention must be dropped, Tories tell Cameron'; in The Guardian; 27 May 2015.

Josh May's 'Ken Clarke 'helps' Philip Hammond'; on Politics Home; 9 June 2015.

Philip Cowley's 'How much trouble will the Tory rebels cause David Cameron?'; in The Telegraph; 1 May 2015.

Lorraine Platt's 'Why it would be wrong to scrap the ban on hunting'; on Conservative Home; 12 December 2013.

Emily Gosden, Rosa Prince & Michael Wilkinson's 'Foxhunting ban: scores of Conservatives will vote against repeal, minister predicts'; in The Telegraph; 30 May 2015.