Kim Stallwood

Back the Ban – Don’t let the Tories Bring Back Hunting

Me and Michael Foster MP with the Back the Ban Petition

My local MP, Michael Foster, has kindly agreed to distribute a letter from me to people in the Hastings and Rye constituency who support animal welfare causes. The petition is only for residents of the Hastings and Rye constituency. Click here to download the petition. Here’s the text of the letter. See below for more on how to Back the Ban!

I am a local animal welfare campaigner and a fervent supporter of the Hunting Act (2004) which prohibits the hunting of wild mammals and hare coursing. I do not accept hunting as a necessary form of predator or population control. I believe it is wrong to terrorise wild animals for a so-called ‘sport’. Hunting epitomises the worst excesses of animal abuse. It is killing for no reason other than fun.

The hunting ban is very important for two reasons. First, it protects foxes, stags, deer and hares. Second, it symbolises a fundamental shift in public attitudes away from animal cruelty to animal welfare. Labour’s ban on hunting is in line with the majority of the British people who want to see a government support animal welfare.

But the Conservative Party has promised a new vote on the ban. David Cameron and local Parliamentary Candidate, Amber Rudd, have made clear their intention to vote for repeal of the ban if they win the election. This is tantamount to writing a death sentence to the foxes, stags, deer and hares we love so much.

Please join with me in support of a “Back the Hunting Ban” petition which I intend to pass to Michael Foster for presentation to Parliament. Please persuade your family, friends and colleagues to sign. We will present the petition to Parliament to show our support for the Hunting Act. Please return the petition by Monday, March 1 or sooner, if you can, as there is not a moment to lose between now and the election.

Thank you in advance for helping with this important campaign. I also want to thank Michael Foster for kindly agreeing to distribute this letter. If you see me running the petition on one of my street stalls please come up and say hello!

Kim Stallwood

Click here to sign the electronic petition.

For more on how to Back the Ban, please visit:

• League Against Cruel Sports
• Keep Cruelty History
• Vote Cruelty Free
• A Minority Pastime
• Petition to Downing Street No to Hare Coursing
• Campaign for Decency
• The Fox Web site
• Protect Our Wild Animals
• The Hunting Act Information and Resources
• Conservatives Against Fox Hunting
• Back the Ban
• No Return to Cruelty

Please email me with recommendations of any other relevant Web sites. Thanks!

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, today confirmed that he used to go hunting. He made the comment as he described the 2004 ban on hunting with dogs as a “farce” and said a Conservative government would allow MPs to have a free vote on its repeal. “I was brought up in the country. I have taken part in a number of rural sports, including hunting, from time to time, but not for several years,” Cameron said when asked on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme if he had ever gone hunting himself. If the Tories won the election, there would be a free vote on hunting because it was considered “a conscience issue”, Cameron said. “Personally, I think the hunting ban has been a farce. I don’t think it works. I think it wastes a huge amount of police time. “For someone who feels passionately that it should be banned, I would just argue that there are some areas where when you take the criminal law into that area it makes the law a mess, it makes the law a bit of a farce, and I think the hunting ban is a good example of that.

“David Cameron confesses to history of hunting: Tory leader makes admission as he explains plans for free vote on repealing ban” The Guardian October 6, 2009. Michael Foster’s office has an E-mail on file from Amber Rudd to a constituent that says “I’m for repealing the ban.”

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post