The ‘tame’ video the Conservative Party Conference wouldn’t show
Posted 10th February 2018
The 'tame' video the Conservative Party Conference wouldn't show
The video, described by charity the League Against Cruel Sports as ‘pretty tame’, shows how popular animal welfare issues are with voters, and the number of animals harmed by ‘cruel sports’.
Chris Luffingham, Director of Campaigns at the League Against Cruel Sports, said:
“The charity had booked a slot for the video to show on screens in the conference, but it was rejected at the last moment. The ironic thing is that most of the video is praising the Conservative Party for the progress they have made on animal welfare, and it’s all pretty tame. There’s just a short bit where we used the words ‘fox hunting’ and showed a picture of a pheasant – I think that sent them over the edge and they banned it.”
“Luckily though it means that thousands of people in Birmingham have seen it and know more about the problems facing animals in the UK. If the Conservative Party keep focusing on these issues, and don’t run scared from activities like pheasant shooting and greyhound racing which need them to step up, then we’ll forgive them for banning our video.”
Polling commissioned by the League Against Cruel Sports with YouGov shows 69% of the British public want the shooting of ‘game’ birds banned.
Opposition to fox hunting is at an all-time high with polling commissioned by the League with Ipsos MORI indicating 85% support for keeping fox hunting banned, including 81% of people in rural areas.
Shooting industry figures indicates 35 million pheasants and partridges are released into the British countryside to be shot every year.
The League Against Cruel Sports estimates that up to 10,000 fox cubs are literally torn apart by fox hounds every autumn in the gruesome practice of cub hunting which precedes the fox hunting season which starts in November.
The Conservative Party is also coming under pressure over the badger cull which is expected to account for the deaths of over 40,000 badgers this year as it is extended over wider parts of the British countryside.
-ENDS-
Notes to Editors
- I enclose a photo of the video van and League Against Cruel Sports Chief Executive Andy Knott, MBE.