Schedule 3 - Hunting with dogs: prohibition
Hunting Bill
4:30 pm
Mr John Maples (Stratford-on-Avon, Conservative)
There are two interpretations of why the Government have proposed the extra day: one is cynical and probably correct; the other is charitable and probably naive. The cynic in me says that the proposal is connected to managing perceptions in the other place. Given that we have only got through half the amendments, the impression could be created that the Bill was rushed through Committee. However, the Government will get their way, so I might as well put a charitable interpretation on it, even if that is a little na—ve. My charitable interpretation of the extra day is that there are things that the Government want to do with the Bill.
The Parliamentary Secretary said that areas of the Bill could be improved. Those were not her exact words, but that is what she thought. Therefore, by delaying consideration of the amendments, we are delaying the point at which the Government could improve the Bill. If the Parliamentary Secretary or the Under-Secretary were to indicate those areas, my hon. Friends and I would be prepared to move speedily towards them.
There are four clear days between now and next Tuesday. During that time, I hope the Parliamentary Secretary, the Under-Secretary and their officials will make it their business to discuss the anomalies in the drafting with Deadline 2000, so we do not repeat the farce of Ministers washing their hands of their own Bill. They and their civil servants have plenty of time—and God knows there are enough of them—to consult with Deadline 2000. They should examine future amendments, consider them in relation to anomalies in the drafting and be prepared to answer the points. I hope that that will happen on Tuesday, but if it does not the cynic in me will once again have been proved right, in which case the extra day will be about managing perceptions, not improving legislation.