As a freethinking animal advocate, I am delighted to read that the Labour Party in the UK has promised to end foxhunting for good within its first term after the forthcoming general election which Labour is expected to win with a substantial majority.
Polls indicate a desire to ban foxhunting
Polls have shown that most voters in the countryside support a complete ban on foxhunting. You might know that the Hunting Act 2004 does not completely ban foxhunting in the UK. It allows drag hunting and this substitute can be used by unscrupulous fox hunts to conduct real foxhunting; cruelly killing foxes as is often exposed by animal activists who monitor their hunts.
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Need to attract rural voters
The Labour Party want to attract rural voters. They feel, it seems, that the party is too rooted in the urban environment and mindset and they want to spread out and attract people living in the countryside.
The Time reports that Labour had ignored the countryside but they believe that they can win up to 60 rural seats.
Backlash
I would expect a strong backlash from the countryside set as they call themselves. They very vociferously and energetically protect their countryside pursuits which often involve animal cruelty through foxhunting or shooting birds for instance.
Energy over aesthetics
The party also promises to allow farmers greater freedom to build wind turbines and solar arrays on their land by prioritising the boosting of the rural economy and ensuring energy security over the aesthetic concerns as wind farms have a very negative impact upon the aesthetics of the countryside.
Moral imperative
At the last election, Labour won only two of 120 rural constituencies. The shadow environment secretary, Steve Reed, has said that there is a “moral imperative as well as an electoral imperative” for Labour to be seen as attractive to countryside voters.
He says that it’s important that Labour competes in every part of the country and traditionally residents in the countryside vote Conservative. But a poll last week indicated a collapse in Tory support in the countryside with Labour currently ahead.
Reed added that, “In 1997 and 2001, we won a majority of rural seats. We will do our best to win a majority of rural seats again.”
RELATED: Foxhunting elite in UK discuss how to get away with breaking the rules (allegedly)
