The law may have changed but opinions have not. Now battle lines are once again being drawn over the ban on hunting with dogs.

Countryside campaigners want the ban revoked and replaced with a code of conduct. Some senior Conservative MPs are supportive of the idea.

The plans have been drawn up by the Masters of Foxhounds Association which hopes the issue would be revisited if the Conservatives win the next General Election.

We would question, however, whether this topic is really a priority and whether it warrants yet more parliamentary time.

The pro-hunting lobby see hunting as part of a rural tradition and regard the ban as an assault on the British way of life. Anti-hunt campaigners believe it is an outdated and unacceptable form of animal cruelty.

What is certain is that there is little room for compromise between the two sets of opinions and there will never be a solution which is accepted by both sides.

We have already seen a long and drawn-out process to arrive with the current law. Is it really worth going through this exercise again? If the law is changed again will the repeal be repealed next time Labour are in power?

The fact is that governments have many more pressing issues with which to deal.

The current economic crisis will leave the country with some hard decisions to make in the coming years.

There is a serious issue about how we fulfil our energy needs over the next few decades. Then there is the NHS, education, pensions and all of the other very important issues facing us.

While we respect and understand opinions from both sides of the hunting debate, now is the time to move on, and not start another long, expensive and time-consuming process to fiddle with the law.