CONSERVATIVE prospective Parliamentary candidate Mel Stride tells us he "believes in compassionate Conservatism".

A recent edition of the Conservative's Central Devon Campaigner carries a picture of Mr Stride surrounded by young children and mothers, with a toddler sitting on his knee.

But the grim reality, which he seems reluctant, to admit is very different. If the Conservatives win the next general election, David Cameron has stated there will be a free vote in Parliament on a repeal of the Hunting Act.

If voted through, this would mean it would again be legal for a callous minority to chase wild animals to exhaustion and have them torn apart alive by packs of dogs.

So I wrote to Mr Stride asking how he would vote on this issue. Seven weeks later, and following a reminder letter, he replied, saying: "I would vote for a repeal of the Act if there were a free vote on this issue in the House of Commons."

So Mr Stride would vote to re-legalise the appalling cruelty which inspired the poet William Blake to write: "Each outcry of the hunted hare a fibre from the brain doth tear". I wonder how Mr Stride would explain that to the children he has cynically used to prop up his "compassionate" image.

RODNEY HALE The Hare Preservation Trust, PO Box 70, Crediton