Why I went hunting for candidates' true colours

By mmammatt

THANK you to the Echo for choosing my question "What is your position on fox hunting? Are you for or against?" to put to Lincoln's three parliamentary candidates (January 6 to 9).

I would like to give my thoughts on their answers, and on whether they have changed the way I might vote at the next election (I currently vote Labour).

Reg Shore (Liberal Democrat) said he was personally against fox hunting, or indeed any blood sports.

While defending anyone's right to freedom, he didn't mean freedom to indulge in cruelty.

Karl McCartney (Conservative), instead of answering my question, started off by attacking MP Gillian Merron's time spent on bringing the fox hunting ban to law.

He then managed to bring unemployment, the NHS, the Armed Forces and education into the argument, before finally saying he was "for" fox hunting.

He says that "it's not an issue that preoccupies those in Lincoln who have lost jobs, serve in the Armed Forces, worry about the NHS and who want the best education for their children".

Well, I live in Lincoln, and it is an issue that preoccupies me.

I have two members of the Armed Forces in my family and the issue preoccupies them. I have, unfortunately, spent too much time in the care of Lincoln's NHS but I can tell you the service has improved and got quicker. As for education, I can't see fox hunting in any modern school curriculum.

Ms Merron (Labour) is 100 per cent against fox hunting and also pointed out that the Tories want to waste time on bringing back hunting instead of focusing on things like unemployment, the Armed Forces, the NHS and education.

On reflection, I will still be voting Labour, as Ms Merron ticks all the boxes.

Mr Shore was a close second, and I wish him well.

As for Mr McCartney, it's back to the drawing board and, to use an education term, "must try harder".

Mr K. Bean Lincoln.

While on a visit to Lincoln earlier this month, I was surprised to see a letter from Douglas Batchelor (chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports) responding to others in your paper.

At the same time, I was impressed with the comments made by the Conservative Party's candidate for Lincoln, Karl McCartney, in his article that day.

Even if Mr McCartney hasn't been on a hunt before, it seems to me as though the people of Lincoln are very lucky to have a candidate who believes in something that has slowly ebbed away here in Britain. It's called freedom.

What this Government needs to realise is that people deserve this in exchange for all the stealth taxes it continues to throw at us year in and year out, be it in form of local or general taxation.

Mr McCartney also made a very valid point in saying that more than 700 hours of parliamentary time had been lost on this very subject. What a waste.

David Johnston-Allen Wharf Road, Guildford, Surrey.