Supporters of blood sports are trying to turn back the clock and scrap Labour’s ban on hunting with dogs. A group called Vote-OK is mobilising hunt supporters in support of Tory candidates who want hunting to be made legal again.
Graham Forsyth is a Labour council candidate in Chard and a campaigner for animal rights. He says: “After many years in the background it’s finally out in the open. Vote-OK has been revealed as a behind the scenes army of hunt supporters, targeting anti-hunt MPs in order to get a sufficient number of pro-hunt MPs in parliament so that the Hunting Act can be repealed
“David Cameron has given his full support to this group. I presume as a former fox hunter and an active game shooter these are the people the prime minster feels most at home with. I just wonder if these sort of pressure groups are good for our democracy. Vote-OK operates as a sort of covert Countryside Alliance/NFU regarding wildlife values.
“Lord Mancroft, the chairman of the Council of Hunting Associations, has said that many hunts are at full stretch delivering leaflets and putting up roadside banners. Perhaps this is why we always see a sea of blue Conservative posters on farms and country estates up and down the countryside?
“The effect of an army of hunt supporters out supporting a candidate is difficult to gauge, but Vote-OK claimed that in the 2010 general election they were responsible for over 20 Tory MPs being elected in marginal seats. One wonders if the Bridgwater and West Somerset Tory Ian Liddell-Grainger has called in his “mounted cavalry” to get him out of the hole he has created for himself?”
Labour will lead the way on animal welfare
Meanwhile Labour’s position on hunting and animal welfare is clear. Shadow environment secretary Maria Eagle said: “The last Labour government achieved much to end the cruel and unnecessary suffering of animals: the banning of hunting with dogs, securing an end to cosmetic testing on animals, banning fur farming and introducing the Animal Welfare Act. The next Labour government will continue to lead the way on animal welfare.”
When the act was passed in autumn of 2004 around 50,000 hunters signed a petition to say they would carryon hunting. Many do under the guise of “Trail Hunting” as a false alibi for hunting as before the ban.
As a member of Fox In Parliament and the Campaign To Strengthen the Hunting Act we will continue to push the next Labou Government to revisit the act to remove these loop holes.
http://www.foxinparliament.com
http://campaigntostrengthenthehuntingact.com
The hunting ban is OK as far as it goes but it is open to abuse because it is not strong enough and many hunts are thumbing their noses at the law. The law needs to be strengthened with a TOTAL band on hunting with dogs. There can be no justification for this vile pastime to be allowed to continue. Those who indulge in it are sick and in need of psychiatric help to cure their bloodlust.