Clause 8
Hunting Bill
9:30 am
Mr Elliot Morley (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Scunthorpe, Labour)
That is one of the many daft comments that the hon. Gentleman has made. The official view from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and from the former Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is that foxes are not considered to be a major predator of livestock. They can cause localised problems and no one is disputing that. Therefore, whether foxes need to be controlled depends on circumstances. To suggest that there is a terrible problem with foxes throughout the country is ludicrous.