Playing the hunting card could backfire on Cameron

The tactic of shoring up your own wavering voters is likely to be widely used by both Labour and the Tories in the coming weeks. Whilst both parties will want to appeal to the middle ground floating voters, Labour need to turn out the potentially apathetic vote in the inner cities, and the Tories won’t want to concede support to UKIP in the Shires. In that sense, the seemingly small issue of the hunting with dogs legislation could make quite an impact.
Whilst repealing the hunting ban will appeal to those in the countryside who want to return to dressing up in their finery and chasing down foxes with packs of dogs, it is something which is deeply unpopular in the urban areas. Of course, it has little or nothing to do with foxes, despite the spread of the urban fox over the last couple of decades, but the whole issue of animal cruelty is repugnant to millions of pet owners in the cities. In addition, the regalia and resplendent red garb that surrounds the hunt says that this is not pest control by angry country folk, but wealthy landowners getting their enjoyment out of blood sports. It reinforces the image of the posh people’s party passing legislation for their own friends and neighbours.
So, Tally ho! ‘Barbour cavalry’ rides to Tories’ rescue may do the trick in rural Warwickshire, it has the potential to do enormous damage in the inner city marginals that Cameron has been desperately trying to woo with his ‘New Conservatism’. Which is why fox hunting should be an issue for Labour in the coming election.