The latest policy document from Labour makes clear the party’s commitment to animal welfare and the protection of wildlife. It says badgers should be vaccinated, not killed, to deal with bovine TB.
Labour Party members are now being consulted on the pre-election document, Agenda 2015. It says: “The Labour Party has a proud record on animal welfare. The last Labour government banned fur farming, made it illegal to hunt wild animals with dogs and ended cosmetic testing on animals. The next Labour government will build on our previous achievements. We will consider measures to address the trade in exotic pets and the testing of household products on animals.
“The government has pursued a misguided and unscientific badger cull. The Labour Party supports an evidence-based approach to bovine TB. We need a coherent plan to eradicate TB through vaccination of both badgers and cattle.”
Vote to protect animals
Feelings on the killing of badgers run particularly high in West Somerset. The Labour Party secretary there, Andy Lewis, joined opponents of the cull in a patrol last year. Andy said:
“The badger cull ordered by the Conservative-Lib Dem government shocked many people here. It was an inhumane exercise which was a failure even on its own terms. Labour has a clear policy in favour of vaccination, which I am sure will be part of our programme for the general election.
“Many people in West Somerset quietly supported the last Labour government when hunting was banned. Opponents of the badger cull should support Labour now. A vote for Labour is a vote to protect animals.”
I AM Normally a Labour Voter, always in fact.
But if Labour are so pro wildlife, why has Medway’s Vince Maple backed the Tories in trying to overturn a SSSI site in Medway. This will cost my vote in 2015
If ever they were a case for hunts to pack-up never to return then Guy Dibble of the Vale of the White Horse Hunt provides that reason last week in the Western Daily Press.
I quote him word for word: “We do not come into towns intentionally. If the hounds see something moving, they are going to go for it. Who is going to stop them?”
As has been stated many times before, sporting dog are exempt from many things, but they still have to be “under proper control” at all times.
All I ask is for the police to fulfil there role and protect us, our livestock and our pets from this menace, no excuses and no treating one section of society with favouritism just simply uphold the law and take action against these people, it is really that simple.
Time and time again we hear the case where the police are called out as trouble flares between hunters and either monitors or Sabs. The usual course of action of the police is to ask the huntsman what the problem is and then act accordingly as agents and servants of the hunt.
We also see this with the Badger Culls where members of the NFU are in the police control room helping the police to pursue ordinary members of the public out legally protesting against the Badger Cull. This is simply not acceptable in a democracy, where a Trade Association like the NFU, that supports the Conservative party, is allowed to have a degree of control and influence over our police forces that we fund through our taxes.
I think Labour should ensure that the police perform there role in a fair and balanced manner, people expect that.
Please don’t try to suggest that Labour’s hunting ban has not worked or is not being enforced. Prosecutions are taking place: the joint masters of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds have been charged with illegal hunting and are due in court next month. This is a real law which is being enforced and is protecting animals.
blunkett and straw persecuted protesters..including anti vivisectors the speak campaign….vivisection increased..hunting was not made notifiable offence under labour..they , like the tories will let developers trash our enviroment..the idea of growth needs challenging..labour wont do this..and they also smooze the shooting industry..
when labour were in they made speak activists lives difficult..trying to stop them protesting against oxford university vivisectors.. hunting was not made notifiable offence.vivisection increased..they smooze the shooting industry..all politicions are out for themselves and worse all will allow the construction industry to decimate wildlife habitat..labour included..we need new ideas to protect the planet..and challenge ideas about the neccesity of growth..
I totally agree stopping trade in exotic animals, they need to be in their own environment and not in someone’s back garden, total cruelty.
Also definately please stop household goods testing on completely defenceless animals.
I have had a letter from Ian Liddell-Grainger in which he says that he would vote to repeal the hunting act if he had a chance. The letter also goes on to say that he considers that the hunting act has not contributed to animal welfare in any way, something which he supports – quite a contradiction when you think about it. Personally I don’t think the hunting act goes far enough – ALL hunting with dogs should be banned. The whole ethos of hunting is for the pleasure of the hunts(wo)men but I would deem anyone who gets pleasure from seeing a wild animal torn apart by a pack of dogs to be mentally unstable and in need of psychiatric help. This nasty pursuit needs to be consigned to the dustbin once and for all.