Fox Hunting: An update

Last week, 50,000 38 Degrees members received a poll about whether 38 Degrees should campaign against fox hunting. Following on from rumours that David Cameron was attempting to bring back aspects of fox hunting in the UK.

Over 80% of people said they would like to launch a campaign. But with 20% of people having reservations, it wasn’t a clear green light.

So fox hunting was then included in last week’s member poll, to see what a larger group of 38 Degrees members felt.

Every week a random group of 38 Degrees members receive a poll laying out potential 38 Degrees campaigns. They then vote on what the priorities for 38 Degrees should be, and this helps decide what 38 Degrees members campaign on in the following weeks.

Fox hunting came last in this week’s member poll. Less than 30% of people said they’d like to campaign on fox hunting a lot. With a large number saying they were outright against to the idea.

38 Degrees is a member-led organisation. Together we campaign on issues that 38 Degrees members decide on.

Therefore, the lack of a clear member mandate on fox hunting meant that, this time, the campaign won’t be going ahead. There weren’t enough 38 Degrees members, who were passionate about campaigning on the risk of bringing back fox hunting, to launch a campaign.

That doesn’t mean that 38 Degrees will never campaign on fox hunting. The political landscape could change, and protecting our foxes could jump back up the polls. But right now, 38 Degrees members want to focus on stopping the privatisation of our NHS, slowing climate change, and cracking down on tax dodging.

If you’re disappointed about this, and would like to keep campaigning against the threat of changes to the law that bans fox hunting, you could start your own campaign on Campaigns by You.

Campaigns by You is the part of the 38 Degrees website where anyone can start a campaign on issues that matter to them. If you start a campaign, you can receive staff support to help build a petition, and share your campaign with people you know. And if your campaign proves popular, it could be taken on as a 38 Degrees campaign in the future.

The League Against Cruel Sports and the RSPCA are continuing to campaign against fox hunting. Or if you’re in favour of fox hunting, the Countryside Alliance are helping fight that corner.

38 Degrees works best when lots of us are united behind a common cause. Together, we can use people-power, from the strength of over 2.5 million members, to put pressure on our MPs and decision makers to bring about real change.

Sometimes campaigns aren’t taken forward, because they don’t have the people-powered backing needed to be a successful 38 Degrees campaign. But another important aspect of 38 Degrees is that we’re nimble, and we can change course as soon as 38 Degrees members unite behind a cause.

If you’ve got an idea for a campaign that you’d like to see 38 Degrees members take forward, you can suggest it as a 38 Degrees campaign by emailing in to emailtheteam@38degrees.org.uk. You can also share your comments below.