Moggie manifesto may put cat among pigeons in polls

LONDON: The nation’s first “manifesto for cats” has been drawn up in the hope that, after Essex Man and Worcester Woman, the next voter group to influence the outcome of a general election will be cat lovers.

The charity Cats Protection will launch its 10-point manifesto at a House of Commons reception next month, in the presence of the animal welfare minister Lord de Mauley, his Labour Party shadow Angela Smith, and 30 cat-owning MPs.

Among the measures demanded in the manifesto are the inclusion of animal welfare in the national curriculum, clear labelling of plants toxic to cats and – despite the potential clash with the dog-lover vote – allowing the prosecution of owners whose dogs kill cats.

Jacqui Cuff, Cats Protection’s advocacy manager, said: “This could be a potential votewinner. We are, after all, a nation of animal lovers.”

Although cats have rarely, if ever, dominated debate in previous elections, they have occasionally featured heavily in British politics, most notably during the Blair years when controversy about Humphrey, the Downing Street cat, raged.

Within a week of Labour’s 1997 election victory, front-page stories accused Cherie Blair of taking a dislike to Humphrey. The cat’s quiet retirement from Downing Street that November raised suspicions that the animal had been murdered.

Cuff said with nearly one in four UK households, or 6.4 million homes, containing at least one pet cat, there was potentially a huge cat-loving constituency. A YouGov poll last year found 14 percent of voters considered animal welfare an important issue in deciding how they would vote in the next poll. – The Independent