EAST Hampshire parliamentary hopeful Damian Hinds warned anything other than a clear Tory majority risks a “dangerous” Labour government as he began his election campaign last week.

The Conservative candidate fielded questions at meetings in Four Marks and Alton on Monday, November 18, covering topics from Brexit to climate.

While he hoped people vote Tory for “positive” reasons, he said the current opposition with its leadership’s swing to the left is “not the Labour Party we know”.

“It is something all together more dangerous,” he added.

Mr Hinds told residents it had been a “divisive time” but now we need to “move forwards and come together”.

However, asked whether the Conservatives would join forces with other parties in the event of a hung Parliament, he said a coalition was unlikely.

This is because it is Lib Dem policy to revoke Article 50 which Mr Hinds believes is undemocratic given the 2016 referendum result.

Teaming up with the Scottish National Party – which seeks independence for Scotland – was also not an option as Mr Hinds is “damn sure we’re not going to break up our country”.

“Any such requirement from another party makes a coalition impossible,” he said.

Some believe Brexit voters were misled or even lied to during the campaign so ignoring the result or holding another referendum is not undemocratic.

But Mr Hinds insisted people were not relying on “one source of information” as business leaders, academics, economists and leaders of all main political parties advocated remain. Regardless, the country voted to leave.

“It wasn’t just that they saw one targeted Facebook ad with a picture of a bus on it,” he added.

“It really was something much deeper than that.”

On climate change Mr Hinds said the UK is a “leading country” and believes any de-carbonisation methods stand a far better chance of “success” if they go with “the grain of people’s lives”.

However, he admitted “we need to do more” to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

As for net zero carbon by 2025, called for by campaigners like Extinction Rebellion, Mr Hinds said targets like that were “just off the scale crazy” and would involve people not going to work, electricity restrictions and other drastic measures.

Concerns about young people struggling to afford homes were raised but Mr Hinds explained there was no “magic wand” solution to the “aggregate” property shortage.

“Ultimately, we do need more housing,” he said.