News from Cornwall Labour

Jude only main party candidate to pledge ‘no return to cruelty’

Jude Robinson, Labour’s Prospective parliamentary candidate for Camborne, Redruth and Hayle pledged “no return to cruelty” as she backed an IFAW in Action campaign to protect the ban on the cruel sport of hunting with dogs.

Five years after the Hunting Act came into force in England and Wales, IFAW in Action, a part of the global International Fund for Animal Welfare movement, has published a new report ‘No Return to Cruelty’, and released a three-minute compilation of video footage showing examples of hunting cruelty before the ban.

The new report and footage were sent to MPs and prospective parliamentary candidates, urging them to remember the horrific cruelty inflicted on foxes, deer, hares and mink before the introduction of the Hunting Act and to work to protect the ban.

Jude said: “Having lived in a rural spot in Cornwall, I know that the strength of feeling against hunting is as strong in villages as it is in towns. The Hunting Act was brought in because the public demanded it and I am proud to have worked for it.

“I believe that I am the only main party candidate to oppose a repeal of the laws on hunting and there is a clear choice for voters.

“I have read IFAW in Action’s report and watched the horrific footage of pre-ban hunt cruelty. Members of the public who are at all unsure should do the same. We should all work together to end cruelty to animals.”

Conservative Party leader David Cameron has pledged to allow MPs a free vote on whether to repeal the Act if he becomes Prime Minister. This is despite the fact that a return to hunting would be completely out of step with the views of the majority of the British public, including his own party.

Polling by Ipsos MORI in September 2009 found strong cross-party support for maintaining the ban, including almost twice as many intending Conservative supporters backing the Act as those that want it repealed (62% vs 33%). Overall, 75% of the British public do not want fox hunting to be made legal again.

Robbie Marsland, UK Director of IFAW in Action, said: “As a nation of animal lovers, the majority of the British public have long opposed animal cruelty and do not want the archaic practice of hunting with dogs to return to our countryside. We urge everyone to visit our website and remember why this vital ban was introduced.”

To read the No Return to Cruelty report and view the footage visit www.ifaw.org/noreturntocruelty where you can also email your other local parliamentary candidates and ask where they stand on the issue.

Other news from Cornwall Labour

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• Labour and unions campaign for dredging the port of Falmouth - 18 January 2012
• Regional funding put at risk by ministers' failure to act - 8 January 2012