‘POLITICAL vandals’ have been blamed for tearing down Tory election posters in South Lakeland.

The small blue campaign signs were destroyed on Crooklands roundabout, Milnthorpe Road, Appleby Road, Windermere Road and outside Morrisons last week.

James Airey, the party’s local press and campaign manager, said: “We are supposed to live in a democratic society where people can put up signs on their property if they want to.

“We would urge our supporters not to retaliate to these political vandals.

“It does seem co-ordinated. Only our signs were taken down, so it would seem like we were targeted.”

In a reference to a fire which destroyed the party’s Kendal headquarters in February, Mr Airey added: “We just want people to play fair, what with our building being burnt down, with this on top it is very depressing.”

The Conservative’s Westmorland and Lonsdale candidate Gareth McKeever said: “We were naturally saddened that anyone would want to stop us being able to take our message to the electorate.

“However, if we can recover from an arson attack that completely destroyed our office and all our records, we can certainly cope with this.”

Labour’s candidate Jonathan Todd said: “It’s very disappointing to hear about this.

“As someone who is involved in politics, I am upset to hear about what has happened, which does seem to be more than a coincidence.”

The Liberal Democrat’s local press and campaign officer, Paul Trollope, said: “The sign in front of my house gets ripped down every Saturday night.

“Signs go missing all the time, road signs, road cones; it’s not politically motivated.”