Clause 9 - The Registrar
Hunting Bill
8:55 am
Mr Edward Garnier (Harborough, Conservative)
I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on bringing to the Committee's attention a matter that would have been either brushed aside or ignored.
I cannot claim any particular knowledge of Wales, except that I went to Jesus college Oxford, where I met many Welsh people, not least because 80 per cent. of undergraduates and 50 per cent. of postgraduates at that college were from Wales. About 10 or 15 per cent. of them thought of English as their second language. To engage in the intellectual and academic activities at the college and the university they had to suppress their Welshness to a certain extent. I assure the hon. Gentleman that, outside of tutorials and the public arena, the Welshness of the Welsh at Jesus college was very pronounced and something of which they were hugely proud. That was the position in the early 1970s and I daresay that it is still the position.
The hon. Gentleman's arguments about the need to recognise the Welsh element of the Bill, and the implications for it, are not simply symbolic, as he suggested, but are matters of great practicality. That is indicated by his example: he said that during his campaigning in recent elections he spoke English on only three occasions. In another example, farmers in his constituency required forms to be in Welsh, but they were not provided in that language. That is a matter of great note and importance.