TORIES DESERVE THEIR TITLE AS THE NASTY PARTY

The future of hunting wild animals for sport could finally be determined by the outcome of the next general election, which must be called within the next 12 months.

Of course Parliament banned hunting five years ago when it passed the Hunting Act thanks to the support of Labour MPs. Most Tory MPs were against the ban

Mahatma Gandhi once said: "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

So for this nation of so-called animal lovers, the Hunting Act represents a huge leap forward.

Some people say the Hunting Act isn’t working, but I am sure most hunters obey the law.

There have been examples where hunting and chasing animals for sport has still occurred, but the difference now is that it’s a criminal offence.

That is why some bloodsports fanatics are clinging to the hope that the election of a Conservative Government would decriminalise chasing and killing wild animals with a pack of dogs.

Meanwhile, organisations like the League Against Cruel Sports are working hard with the police and prosecutors to clamp down on those who continue to break the law.

And some hunters have been successfully prosecuted after being caught out by hunt monitors who videoed their illegal activities.

The hunting lobby now claims to have more support than ever but the reality is the bloodsports lobby represents a tiny minority of the population.

Hardly anybody supports the ritualised setting of dogs onto animals for sport, apart from bloodsports extremists themselves.

The time for hunting animals for sport has passed, the hunters just don’t accept it yet, but the general public do.

That is why the hunters see this general election as their last chance to turn the political tide in their favour again.

They know that it is only David Cameron’s Conservatives who are taking them seriously. The Liberal Democrats are at best divided on the issue, while Labour is overwhelmingly behind the ban.

It’s hard to understand why politicians in the Conservative Party, from David Cameron down, want to devote parliamentary time to this issue.

Many of those selfsame Conservative politicians said Parliament had more important issues to consider when the Hunting Act was being debated first time around.

Opinion polls reveal most Conservative voters support the hunting ban, yet David Cameron and the Conservative Party remain bedazzled by the hunters.

A YouGov opinion poll published I the Daily Mirror on Friday 17 July 2009, reveals that 59 per cent of voters would be less likely to vote for candidates who favour decriminalising hunting. Given that most Tory parliamentary candidates support hunting, the outcome of the general election could be determined by this issue.

The same poll revealed that 56 per cent of the public link the Tories’ support for hunting with their ‘nasty party’ image, rather than the ‘compassionate conservatism’ image that David Cameron is trying to cultivate.

The Conservative Party’s association with killing wildlife for fun suggests that the term ‘compassionate conservatism’ is in fact an oxymoron.

This issue could be the one that makes people realise that David Cameron’s assertion that the Conservative Party has changed is just a smokescreen. It might encourage people to examine some of the Conservatives’ other policies that are as equally dubious as their support for the ‘killing for fun brigade’.

It was the former chair of the Conservative Party, Theresa May, who told the 2002 Conservative Party conference that the Tories are seen as the ‘nasty party’. Her party’s stance on bloodsports reinforces the view that they still are.