Clause 9 - The Registrar
Hunting Bill
9:15 am
Mr Edward Garnier (Harborough, Conservative)
I suspect that the proportion of Welsh speakers in the hon. Gentleman's constituency and his county is rather greater than in the city of Cardiff. However, let us leave the subject there for the moment. Others may feel it appropriate to return to it, but I shall follow the rules of the House and continue to speak in English, which is the language I understand best. I suspect that if I attempted to speak in Welsh, my hon. Friend the Member for North Wiltshire (Mr. Gray) would tell me that you were about to get cross, Mr. Stevenson.
Despite its industrial heartland in the south-east, Wales is predominantly a rural country and it is not surprising that there are 49 registered packs of hounds in the Principality, including foxhounds, mink hounds and beagles. I understand that about 3,500 horses are used predominantly for hunting. The total annual attendance at meets of packs registered with the
Masters of Foxhounds Association in Wales is around 120,000, of which 50,000 are mounted and 70,000 are foot followers. Those figures come from information in the document on the social and economic implications of foxhunting in Wales, which was published in 2001. That demonstrates that although the overall population of Wales in relation to Scotland and England is relatively small, the proportion who participate in hunting, directly or indirectly, is correspondingly higher, so particular attention should be paid to the hon. Gentleman's argument for a Welsh element in the Bill. I suspect that even electors in the Principality who do not support the Welsh National party would agree with some of his arguments about the need for acceptance and understanding of the Welshness of Wales in so far as hunting is concerned. The hunting people of Wales would point out that the topography of Wales does not allow the same sort of arguments to be used against hunting as might apply in lowland areas of England or the south of Scotland.