Quote:
Originally Posted by martyh
But surely it is the very heart of democracy for the larger group to win over the smaller group
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In democracy, one group wins an election, another loses. It is then for the winner to govern for all, not to favour just its own client group.
A specific measure, criminalising a widely-followed activity for no coherent reason, is a classic example of what not to do with a democratic mandate. The animal welfare argument was, and still is, contested - not that it was ever truly about animal welfare. Let's be clear here - an activity that was a legitimate pastime one day, was a criminal act the next. That is draconian. And the reason for it was neatly summed up as the vote was announced in the Commons by Dennis Skinner, who shouted, "that will show the toffs". It was just an ugly old piece of class warfare.