Why it's so important to ban fox hunting

So, why do the government want to ban fox hunting? It’s clearly not an animal cruelty issue, because battery chicken farming would be much higher up that agenda. So, public demand then? Apparently not:

BBC NEWS | UK | Put NHS before hunting, poll says

2% of the population think the ban is a priority? Clearly not mass public demand then. Surely it couldn’t be that an urban-dominated government is making a petty attack on the rural communities that usually vote for their opposition?

Heaven forbid.