The Liberal Democrats are the new Dog Lovers' Party

If you’ve spent much time on Facebook or Twitter lately, it’s pretty likely you’ll have seen adverts featuring mournful caged puppies posted by Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

The opposition parties appear to have decided to try to make puppies the next big wedge issue, as they accuse the Conservatives of “giving the green light to puppy smuggling” after the Tories dropped a suite of animal welfare legislation, which included a crackdown on intensive dog breeding practices.

Labour and the Lib Dems have launched petitions urging people to give their details in order to “help stop puppy smuggling”. As with the sewage scandal, senior figures in the opposition parties believe this is an issue that can galvanise the public.

That was the Guardian reporting last week.

As part of this campaign, Tim Farron had already tabled his Pets (Theft and Importation) Bill. This seeks to prevent and punish the theft of dogs below a certain age and deter the unlawful importation of certain animals, including dogs, cats and ferrets.

It's nice to see ferrets being though of.

And the campaign is still going on. Yesterday, Somerset Live quoted Wera Hobhouse, the Lib Dem MP for Bath:

“The Conservative party promised to deliver this Bill in their election manifesto, and the Government even drafted the wording of the new law. Therefore Ministers should have no problems backing it. Conservative MPs cannot break this promise to protect animals from cruel smuggling gangs.

“The Liberal Democrats want to see greater protections for puppies, with criminals who target beloved pets handed harsher punishments.”

There's no doubt about it: the Liberal Democrats are the new Dog Lovers' Party.