MP Rosie Cooper says Tories will return Waterloo Cup hare coursing if they win General Election

Nov 19 2009 by Michelle Fiddler, Ormskirk Advertiser

A CONSERVATIVE victory at next year's general election will see the return of the infamous Waterloo Cup, West Lancashire MP Rosie Cooper has suggested.

Ms Cooper warned that David Cameron's pledge to repeal the hunting ban – could also mean the return of hare-coursing.

The three-day Waterloo Cup was Britain's biggest hare-coursing event, attracting 10,000 people to Altcar Estate, near Formby.

It was outlawed by the 2004 Hunting Act which also banned fox-hunting.

Ms Cooper was among the protesters at the last Waterloo Cup, in February, 2005, when the chief executive of the Countryside Alliance vowed: "The Waterloo Cup will live on. We will return."

Nick Herbert, the Conservative environment spokesman, said recently: “Some argue that the Hunting Act is so ineffective that it might as well be left on the Statute Book.

“But this is bad law – and bad laws should be repealed.

“That is why David Cameron has said that, if we are elected, we will give Parliament the opportunity to repeal the Hunting Act on a free vote.”

Ms Cooper said: “This is the same old Tories and their priorities have not changed. I am proud that the Labour government has banned hunting with dogs and I will continue campaigning alongside animal welfare organisations against the Tories' proposed reintroduction of this cruel practice.”