Clause 8 - Tests for registration: utility and
Hunting Bill
10:45 am
Mr Adrian Flook (Taunton, Conservative)
I am grateful to my hon. Friend, but I am sure that you, Mr. Stevenson, would like us to make some progress. There is every reason why we should discuss other angles of foxhunting and I want to mention them. Amendment No. 20 refers to the social, cultural, economic and environmental elements of the utility test, so I am perfectly within my rights to talk about the culture of what the hunt does and local communities in my constituency and elsewhere; for example, puppy shows are held. Foxhunting is inherent in society. My right hon. Friend the Member for Maidstone and The Weald often makes the point that she has pictures of people foxhunting on her drawing room curtains. It is all part of the fabric of society—[Hon. Members: ''The fabric of her curtains.'']—but not of her community.
We have also mentioned fallen stock and the figures that are accepted by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Foxhunting also provides recreation. It pays for the utilitarian contribution. All of this makes for a healthy fox population, as I pointed out in a response to the hon. Member for West Ham.
All of the things that are important in relation to foxhunting are particularly important in relation to utility and deer hunting. We have hardly touched on deer hunting, but it is important. Indeed, the utility of deer hunting is vital to my constituency. The Bill has prejudged the matter. The Minister said:
''Incontrovertible evidence shows that the activities of hare coursing and deer hunting cannot meet the two tests, so these activities will be banned.''—[Official Report, 3 December 2002; Vol. 395, c. 756.]
I will discuss how the amendments would help deer hunting—