. . .running them until they are exhausted and then letting them be ripped to pieces by the dogs for "sport."
In the United States, foxes are not run until they are exhausted and then ripped to pieces by the hounds. They are run for a few minutes until they decide they're bored and choose to go to ground in a hole or, in the case of gray foxes, climb a tree. It is rare indeed that they are killed. The only ones who die are extremely sick, usually dying of mange. And when they are killed, they're killed by a quick snap of the neck.
In the UK foxes have no predators or illnesses like rabies to reduce their numbers, so they have become a very serious agricultural pest, a predator that decimates poultry and devours lambs-aborning in the fields. Farmers in the UK welcome foxhunts because they can't deal with the foxes on their own. British agriculture is already struggling after their recent bouts of hoof-and-mouth disease, which represented an economic disaster, and the last thing they need is more predators eating their stock.
Not being of the of the Eastern gentrified horse country people persuasion, I defer to your superior knowledge concerning the details of chasing foxes (as opposed to hunting them) on horseback using dogs.
In the light of post #4:
>>The ancient sport of deerstalking is still legal and will continue unchanged. (For those who don't know, stalking is done on foot and with rifles.) Shooting of foxes as vermin also remains legal, and will in fact increase if fox-hunting as vermin control ceases. The same goes for hares, but with rather more restrictions as they're a much scarcer animal.<<
Why aren't UK farmers capable of coping with the foxes (e.g., shooting them)?
Farmers in the UK welcome foxhunts because they can't deal with the foxes on their own.
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To be fair the hunters have not made their plight easy. For centuries they have gone on to other peoples land and ridden over crop filled fields causing much destruction.
I would say that the majority of farmers support fox hunting but these are the ones who have not had their land damaged by a hunt.
Personally I think it is a waste of time and money to create or enforce this ban.
I am not voting Labour for other reasons though (military, EU etc etc ad nauseum). I am going Tory all the way!