Clause 5 - Hunting: defence
Hunting Bill
9:30 am
Mr Andrew George (St Ives, Liberal Democrat)
I beg to move amendment No. 262, in
clause 5, page 2, line 24, leave out '1' and insert '4'.
I shall be brief, because many of the points that I wish to make under this amendment have been rehearsed in our arguments on clause 4. The amendment would close a loophole and provide, in my view, an important defence for landowners and dog owners who knowingly permit their land or dog to be used in what they reasonably believed at the time to be registered hunting. It also bolsters an amendment, which I will be moving later, to clause 7, but I shall not pre-empt that debate. Without repeating the arguments put forward in the previous debate, it is important that landowners are not unfairly caught by the legislation.
It is also important that there is not a loophole for hunters. The amendment would remove the defence for hunters charged with an offence under clause 1 that they reasonably believed that their hunting was registered or exempt.
If clause 5 is not amended, there will be a loophole, which could be exploited by hunters who knew that they were either duping or misleading landowners into believing that they were registered or exempt. I hope that the Minister will accept the amendment and the need adequately to defend landowners.