Conservatives Against Fox Hunting ( Blue Fox) welcome the omission of a free vote to repeal the Hunting Act 2004 in the new Conservative Manifesto.
The free vote to repeal the Hunting Act was included in the last three Conservative manifestos.
Blue Fox have campaigned since 2010 against the repeal of the hunting ban and held many anti hunting events over the years in the House of Commons hosted by Conservative MPs to support and unite anti hunting Conservative MPs to protect the ban whilst it was under the serious threat of repeal.
Conservatives Against Fox Hunting was formed to provide a vehicle for likeminded Conservative MPs and Conservative Supporters to come together to form a movement of anti-hunt opposition within the Conservative Party. Great credit needs to be paid to our early supporters and MP Patrons, many from the 2010 intake, who stood firm by their principled beliefs against the intense lobbying of the pro-hunt lobby.
For the past 10 years Blue Fox have campaigned within the Conservative Party as Conservative Party supporters and activists to persuade the party leadership that associating itself with the barbaric blood sport of hunting with dogs was at odds with the clear majority of the British Public and most of its own supporters. Our activists and supporters include Conservative Councillors, Conservative Association Chairmen, Conservative Women’s Organisation members and grass roots Conservative supporters. Elise Dunweber, Chairman of Esher & Walton Conservative Women’s Organisation kindly organised three public events to promote our campaign on wildlife protection and animal welfare.
Lorraine Platt, Co-Founder said:
“The Hunting Act 2004 must be obeyed in both the spirit and the letter of the law. The Conservative party must continue to make it clear to the electorate that we have heard their condemnation of those who continue to try and perpetrate this brutal pastime and that not only is the Hunting Act here to stay but that in a civilised 21st century society these activities will not be tolerated.”
When Blue Fox was first launched in 2010, it had the committed support of 20 Conservative MPs. Today, at our last count, this stood at well over 100 Conservative MPs, with a further number stating they would have abstained had a free vote ever been brought before parliament.
Thank you for the powerful support of all our Blue Fox MP Patrons. We pay special tribute to our MP Patrons Rt Hon Sir Roger Gale, Sir David Amess, Caroline Dinenage and Tracey Crouch. We also want to thank former Conservative MPs Lord John Randall, Mike Weatherley and Simon Kirby. We are grateful to Stuart Andrew and Henry Smith for their steadfast support and to Andrea Jenkyns, Caroline Dinenage and Kevin Foster for hosting anti hunting events for us. We pay tribute to the Rt Hon Dominic Raab as our own constituency MP for his deep support and for his kind speeches at our events to protect wildlife.
Thank you to all Conservative MPs who have taken the time to listen to us and our arguments against hunting with dogs as a blood sport and especially to those who committed to voting against any repeal of the Hunting Act 2004.
We are grateful to Animal Welfare Minister Zac Goldsmith for his vocal support for the legislation to remain in place and to our Prime Minister Boris Johnson for focusing on advancing positive animal welfare measures in the new manifesto.
We are delighted that the repeal of the Hunting Act 2004 is no longer ever part of any future Government or Conservative Party Policy.
