BRING BACK HUNTING & WE'LL TEAR YOU APART; Voter poll warning to Tories.

Byline: BOB ROBERTS

A TORY pledge to bring back fox hunting could rip the party's vote to pieces in a general election.

A survey has shown seven in 10 people are against repealing the ban.

And 59% said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who backed legalisation to allow hunting.

David Cameron is a hunt supporter and has said the ban makes him furious. But 56% of 2,015 people in the YouGov poll link blood sports to a "nasty party" not "compassionate Conservatives". Labour see it as a Tory blind-spot and smell blood. A senior strategist said: "Support for hunting is a key factor in dozens of seats."

The League Against Cruel Sports' Douglas Batchelor said: "These figures show just how out of touch the Conservative Party is. It is the nasty party on hunting." The league is to bolster the ban with a Keep Cruelty History campaign.

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague promised a group of huntsmen last month that hunting would be back if the Tories win power.

CAPTION(S):

SUPPORTER David Cameron at a hunt