Hunting Bill (Procedure)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 1:02 pm on 15 September 2004.

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Photo of Oliver Heald Oliver Heald Shadow Secretary of State (Justice), Shadow Leader of the House of Commons 1:02, 15 September 2004

Yes. I return to the point that I made earlier about whether Ministers believe genuinely that what is going to the other place is unworkable. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will remember saying:

"No Bill on a simple ban has ever been thought to be workable."

The Minister for Rural Affairs and Local Environmental Quality will remember saying:

"A complete ban . . . would destroy the architecture of the Bill, undermine the strong simple framework of enforcement that is set out in the Bill and be perceived as pursuing prejudice rather than targeting cruelty."

He went on, after the ambush, to say that MPs,

"chose a Bill that is simple to explain rather than a Bill that is simple to enforce."

In those circumstances, how can they justify using the panoply of government—the Executive power—to force the Bill through on a guillotine, and to use the Parliament Act, when they know that the Bill needs to be amended?