Schedule 3 - Hunting with Dogs: Prohibition
Hunting Bill
4:51 pm
Mr Mike O'Brien (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; North Warwickshire, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman is right to pull me up on that. I am not suggesting that there should be a general law of criminal trespass in relation to everyone who trespasses on another's land. That would be absurd and unnecessary. However, when we are dealing with hunting on someone's land, to which there may be a strong objection—particularly as we are passing legislation that expressly forbids certain kinds of hunting—there is a strong case for a criminal penalty in the Bill, within the limits of the fines that it imposes. That is the approach that the House voted for. We have already debated whether it should be dealt with by—