Clause 6 - Deer
Hunting Bill
10:30 am
Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire, Conservative)
My hon. Friend makes an extremely good point, although I query the detail. I made the point that if deer management were to be one of the utility tests, deer hunting would pass it without question. Apart from anything else, the increase in the size of the herd is clear evidence of utility under the terms of species management. Unfortunately, species management has been deleted from the Bill, despite the Minister's assurance in a letter of 10 April that it would be one of the utility tests. We know that we cannot take anything that he says at face value.
I seek to show that, even though we dislike the illiberal terms of utility in the Bill, it is likely that deer hunting would pass the utility test, as the Bill clearly covers the damage that deer do to crops, grass and trees, and that damage is easy to prove.