West Country MP wins animal welfare award
03 July 2010
South West, UK
Adrian Sanders, the Liberal Democrat MP for Torbay in Devon, has won the League Against Cruel Sports’ Parliamentarian of the Year Award.
Mr Sanders, who has been Member of Parliament for the constituency which includes Torquay and parts of Paignton since 1997, voted strongly in favour of the ban on hunting with dogs and has supported a number of other League Against Cruel Sports campaigns.
Handing the Award to Mr Sanders earlier this week, the League’s chief executive Douglas Batchelor paid tribute to his hard work for animal welfare. “Adrian has been a consistent and hard working supporter of our cause in Westminster,” he said. “He has spoken at our events, signed supportive parliamentary motions, asked questions of ministers and the BBC, and overall has been a great help to our work for animal welfare.”
The Award will be formally announced at the League’s Annual Lecture in Westminster today. Mr Sanders, who is not able to attend personally due to constituency commitments, said he was “delighted” to receive the award. “It is clear from the opinion polls that the British population oppose hunting with hounds but it is often all too easy for politicians to give in to the vocal minority who support such cruel activities,” said Mr Sanders. “I strongly believe that we must take a principled stand on this issue and insist that it is always wrong to abuse animals; if species need to have their population controlled, there are kinder methods that can be used and above all this should not be used as an excuse for people to gain pleasure from the suffering of animals.”
“I will continue to support the League in the fantastic work it does”, he added. A short film of his acceptance speech has been added to the YouTube website.
During the General Election, the League’s ‘Fox Tour’ campaign visited the Torbay constituency to highlight the fact that some politicians want to bring back hunting with dogs. It was one of the few constituencies around the country where no candidates from the main parties wanted to repeal the Hunting Act.