Campaign Against Martin Salter MP?

Press Release from Martin Salter MP

Reacting to the announcement by the Countryside Alliance that they plan to ship in hunting supporters to help the Conservative party in Reading West Labour MP Martin Salter and the Government’s Parliamentary Spokesman for Angling and Shooting claimed that this was “proof positive” that the Countryside Alliance was nothing more than a front for fox hunting and has never had the interests of either angling or shooting at heart.

In January the Alliance confirmed that whilst it was not willing to field its own candidates at the forthcoming general election it was planning to ship in members to help Martin Salter’s Conservative opponent. An Alliance spokesman said:

“We would not be surprised if our members got involved in the election campaign because they feel extremely strongly about this, particularly about Martin Salter who has consistently rejected evidence put before him and chosen to vote in favour of a ban.”

On Boxing Day the joint Master of the Vale of Aylesbury with Garth and South Berkshire Hunt David Flemming said of the Newbury and Reading West MPs:

“It only takes 50 people in each constituency to get rid of David Rendel and Martin Salter. We will go round the doorsteps and give people a reason to hoof them out. We will pound the streets and talk about the issues that hurt the most.”

Martin Salter said:

“I have always suspected that the Countryside Alliance was nothing more than a front for fox hunting and that their professed support for angling and shooting was simply an attempt to hoodwink others into backing their doomed cause. We now have proof positive that the Countryside Alliance only supports those anglers who support fox hunting. I am the first ever spokesman for angling and shooting to be appointed by any government and I would have thought that if the Alliance was serious about these sports they would want to work with me not against me.”

The High Court has rejected a legal challenge by the Countryside Alliance over the use of the Parliament Act to by-pass the opposition to the Hunting Bill in the House of Lords.

Mr Salter added:

“Their involvement in the election campaign in Reading will only help my chances of retaining my seat as my constituents will take a dim view of those Countryside Alliance supporters who have invaded Parliament, attacked police officers, assaulted and threatened MPs and their families, blockaded motorways, dumped dead animals in the public highway, denied land for training facilities to the British Army and threatened to poison reservoirs serving major towns and cities. These people think they are above the law of the land whilst the vast majority of anglers and shooters are decent law abiding people who do not want their sports tainted by these characters.”

Terry Mansbridge, Executive Chairman of the National Association of Fisheries and Angling Consultatives (NAFAC) that represents the views of over 400,000 anglers and others interested in the well being of our aquatic environment, said:

“We are disappointed that the Countryside Alliance has chosen to attack Martin in this way given that they purport to represent a large number of anglers. It is our experience that Martin has achieved much for our sport in his role as Parliamentary Spokesman for Angling and we are very grateful to him for all the support and assistance he has given us in this capacity. His re-election is a matter between him and his constituents and should not be influenced by outside interests with a specific agenda”.

David Bird, Chairman of the Specialist Angler’s Alliance said:

“Martin Salter has opened the doors of power to angling’s voice in a way no other MP has ever done before. It would be a sad day for angling if he was not in the next parliament.”

Dear Sir

Martin Salter’s vitriolic attack on the Alliance is neither accurate or justified – nor is it anything new.

As an Ex Labour MP I accepted the position of Chairman of the Alliance’s Campaign for Angling because of its politically neutral stance. But this should not be confused with an inability or unwillingness to express a view.

We condemned the Tories for suggesting they scrap rod licences and have welcomed Ben Bradshaw’s sensible approach to the cormorant issue, and for our shooting friends his u-turn on Open General Licences for pigeons and crows.We have nearly 25,000 fisherman on our books and all of them want us to pursue an independent, proactive agenda for angling, that defends it from attack and champions its virtues. What is more we are happy to work with any organisation with complementary aims.

We were part of the creation of the initiative ‘Get Hooked on Fishing’ (now a charity) and have managed to get our ‘Water Matters’ education pack to thousands of secondary schools in England and Wales. Our political operation in London, Edinburgh, Belfast and Cardiff (and Europe) scrutinises every piece of new legislation for anything that might – even accidentally – impinge on our sport.

Where we freely admit to being a bit different from other pressure groups is that we represent country sports in the context of rural Britain as a whole, trying always to look at them all rather than as individuals. The separation of any of our activities from each other we believe is dangerous. Farming, land use, tourism, business, sport and the environment all overlap. Isolation brings with it only risk.

I find it a shame that Martin Salter chooses to ignore the Alliance in the many positive areas in which it is working for angling and shooting.

The Alliance does not campaign for or against individuals or parties. What it does do is to encourage people to be part of the political process, and provides information to enable them to do that.

Yours etc

Llin Golding Chairman, Campaign for Angling 367 Kennington Road London SE11 4PT