Clause 8 - Tests for registration:
Hunting Bill
11:00 am
Mr Lembit Öpik (Montgomeryshire, Liberal Democrat)
In which case, we see the exact point about recreational activity. We all presumably accept that putting a hook in a fish's mouth and then releasing the fish is unnecessary on the basis that it does not provide food. Furthermore, we have established that the hon. Gentleman would not choose to ban that activity. It follows that there must be a counterbalance to the pain that is caused to the fish. I remind hon. Members that the RSPCA has said that fish show signs of feeling pain. The argument must contain a counterbalance, which leads me to assume that he accepts that there is a recreational benefit to the activity. If that is correct, the problem with the amendment is that it discounts to zero any recreational benefit derived from the killing of foxes. There seems to be a contradiction there because, as far as I can understand what the right hon. Member for Suffolk, Coastal said, to follow the path of discounting any recreational benefit derived from foxhunting to zero implies that foxes are in a different class of animal from all the other animals that are we considering.