repealing the Hunting Act 2004 when parliamentary time allowed; in late 2010, it was thought this might be in "early 2012". The prime minister, David Cameron, explained in January 2012 "I always thought the hunting ban was a pretty bizarre piece of legislation ... I think there should be a free vote in the House of Commons. I think the Commons should make its mind up about this. My problem has always been that it was just taking the criminal law into an area of activity where it didn't really belong." However, in December 2012 Owen Paterson, the Environment Secretary, said that there was no immediate likelihood of winning a Commons vote to make hunting legal again and that supporters of hunting would need to do "more work" to win over sceptical MPs. Proposed Conservative amendments The 2015 Conservative Government proposed "technical" amendments to the Act. These were officially postponed on 14 July 2015. At the 2017 election Theresa May pledged to hold a free vote on repealing the Hunting Act if the Conservative Party won a majority. These plans were scrapped in January 2018. At the 2019 election the Conservative Party announced that they would not make any changes to the Hunting Act leading to suggestions that the Conservatives would no longer oppose the Hunting Ban. See also Animal law Beagling Footnotes 72 .http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/1735356.print/ RSPCA vs Heythrop Hunt: 2012 73 https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/may/14/hunt-members-guilty-fox-hounds?newsfeed=true 74 https://web.archive.org/web/20121004145808/http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/competitionnews/392/286742.html External links Timeline: Labour and hunting Guardian Special report:Attempts to ban hunting Defra Q&A on the Hunting Act BBC In depth analysis Countryside Alliance 'Case for repeal' League Against Cruel Sports: How we got hunting banned UK Legislation Text of the Hunting Act 2004 Explanatory notes to the Hunting Act 2004. United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2004 Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning England and Wales Hunting and shooting in the United Kingdom Hunting legislation Hunting with hounds Hunting and shooting in England Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed under the Parliament Act