Clause 8 - Tests for registration: utility and
Hunting Bill
11:15 am
Mr Hugo Swire (East Devon, Conservative)
You are right to draw that to my attention, Mr. Stevenson, but I was trying to make the point that if a decision on cruelty has not been arrived at, how can the Minister construct a Bill based on cruelty and utility? We must suppose from that that the main meat of his argument is utility.
As my right hon. and hon. Friends have been kind enough to say, the Minister has come some way since his deliberations in at least now accepting the principle of the utility of hunting foxes with hounds. All I hope is that, if the Minister has changed his mind on that, following the Committee's deliberations, he might be persuaded of the logic of allowing a registrar and tribunal to deliberate on the utility of allowing stag hunting and coursing. Alas, the evidence points to the contrary. In an article in The Guardian on 17 January, Patrick Wintour referred to amendment No. 183, tabled by the hon. Member for Southampton, Test, which refers to the tough conditions that are being set. Mr. Wintour stated:
''It raises the hurdle of evidence that will be required.''
During the next few weeks in Committee it will be interesting to see what further concessions the Minister makes, what happens on Report and to whom he makes those concessions. On current form, it will not be to those who are quite happy for the judgment to be on utility if the meaning of utility is favourably broadened.
The Minister said that the purpose of the Bill is to solve a political problem. It is worth remembering that that problem exists only on the Labour Back Benches