Labour defends country sports

The Labour party has no plans to ban shooting or fishing and suggestions by the League Against Cruel Sports that it does are a distortion of the facts, according to Labour MP for Reading West, Martin Salter.

“Don’t think that because we worked closely with you on one issue, you can misrepresent our policies on shooting and fishing,” he told a meeting organised by the League at the Labour conference.

Shooting had many benefits for the countryside, including promoting biodiversity and creating employment.

“We are not going to waste time on issues that are not in our manifesto and that we can see no reason to ban.”