Clause 4 - Unnecessary suffering
Animal Welfare Bill
4:00 pm
Ben Bradshaw (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Local Environment, Marine and Animal Welfare), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Exeter, Labour)
I welcome you, Mrs. Humble, to your role as co-Chair. I was explaining why the Government felt that it was not necessary to have a specific reference in the Bill to abandonment. That was partly because the act of abandonment could lead to prosecution under the welfare offence. It could also lead to prosecution under the cruelty offence, and the Government felt that, in line with our better regulation agenda, this was not necessary.