Schedule 1 - Exempt Hunting
Hunting (Re-committed) Bill
3:15 pm
Mr Alun Michael (Minister of State (Rural Affairs), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Cardiff South and Penarth, Labour/Co-operative)
I am grateful to you, Mrs. Roe. It is also an inaccurate rendition of what I said. I said that some people have been reluctant to enter into management planning because they want the continuation of hunting rather than deer management.
The hon. Member for North Wiltshire tabled a number of amendments. I must resist amendment No. 74 to remove the condition set out in the Bill on the number of dogs that may be used for the stalking and flushing-out exemption. I think that the Committee should also resist the amendments with a random set of figures—10, 20, 35—for the number of dogs that might be used. During a previous debate I suggested that the hon. Gentleman should provide evidence for a specific number if he wanted to vary the number from two, which the Bill specifies, but he has provided a range of alternatives.
The Committee will be aware that in Scotland there is no limit on the number of dogs allowed to flush wild mammals out of cover to waiting guns. Drawing on that experience, it would be unwise to be tempted by the amendment. Opposition Members have perhaps not grasped the plain fact that the House of Commons has expressed its will that traditional hunting with packs of dogs should be banned. The amendments, which have come from two sources, are clearly intended to allow hunting with packs through the back door under the guise of flushing out to guns.