Results 1-20 of 140 for hunting speaker:Edward Leigh

Public Accounts (29 Jun 2004)

Mr Edward Leigh: .... In a particularly brutal hearing on tax credits, he reminded the chairman of the Inland Revenue, Sir Nick Montague, that he had received more letters on the subject than any other, apart from fox hunting. Quick as a flash, Sir Nicholas replied: "I have to be thankful for small mercies, Mr. Steinberg. Fox hunting is not a subject about which you write to me." We are very grateful to the...

House of Lords Reform (21 Jan 2003)

Mr Edward Leigh: ...overwhelming power when it comes to getting its will through the House. How often do hon. Members seriously test the Executive? We have wonderful debates on occasions like this, and free votes on hunting and other matters, but how many first-class debates are there on substantive issues, with Government policy at stake? How often are substantial numbers of hon. Members prepared to rebel...

Hunting Bill (16 Dec 2002)

Mr Edward Leigh: Labour Members have suggested that hunting is akin to bear-baiting. Such sports, which were banned a long time ago, were intended to enable spectators to enjoy seeing an animal being tortured. Will my hon. Friend confirm that that simply does not happen in hunting? Most people who follow the hunt never see the kill. They are not doing it because they want to enjoy the kill; they are doing it...

Public Accounts (24 Jan 2002)

Mr Edward Leigh: ...however, want to be a practical force for good, trying to suggest how things can be done better. We do not get involved in policy, which is our key to success. It is why we are a united Committee and why we hunt as a pack. No one can put a piece of paper between any member of the Committee because we focus our attention on the civil service, not on policy, and on trying to get things done....

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (28 Feb 2001)

Mr Edward Leigh: ...march by saying today that he will listen to the voice of the hundreds of thousands who would have taken part in that march on farm incomes, compensation, access, rural infrastructure and hunting, in a manner which is both understanding and tolerant of their point of view?

New Clause 1: Disposal of Fallen Stock (27 Feb 2001)

Mr Edward Leigh: ...do not worry. There is nothing to worry about." I think that there is a lot to worry about. If I were a Minister, I would certainly be worried about a challenge being made in the European courts. A hunting ban would, for example, interfere with the rights of landowners.

New Clause 1: Disposal of Fallen Stock (27 Feb 2001)

Mr Edward Leigh: ...to reply to the legal issues that have been raised. I believe that a ban could be in breach of protocol 1 because it would interfere with the property rights of landowners who participate in hunts on their own land. In reply to the specific point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Cotswold (Mr. Clifton Brown) that such a ban could be deemed by the courts as an interference with...

New Clause 1: Disposal of Fallen Stock (27 Feb 2001)

Mr Edward Leigh: ...rights of a quarter of a million people—and certainly the jobs of 8,000 people—simply because the Government believed that those people are acting unethically. The proposal to ban hunting represents a major step. Before they proceed, hon. Members must be aware of the legal arguments involved. Those arguments can be dismissed as mere lawyer's talk, but what is the law for? The...

New Clause 1: Disposal of Fallen Stock (27 Feb 2001)

Mr Edward Leigh: ...stock service is removed, can the knacker industry cope? I am prepared to accept that I do not have access to all the figures, but common sense suggests that removing the free service provided by hunts might mean that what remains of the knacker industry will promptly up its charges.

New Clause 1: Disposal of Fallen Stock (27 Feb 2001)

Mr Edward Leigh: ..., the Minister implied that the Scottish Parliament is only a semi-Parliament, or half a Parliament. However, that does not resolve the problem that we have no control over the knacker industry or hunting in Scotland. Those obvious and powerful points have been made many times, and I need not repeat them. I make one final plea to the Minister. I do not ask for a general compensation...

New Clause 1: Disposal of Fallen Stock (27 Feb 2001)

Mr Edward Leigh: ...in an earlier intervention, I may have inadvertently misled the House. I was trying to work out exactly what the cost would be to the farming community if the fallen stock service provided by the hunts were taken away. I was trying to extrapolate figures from the Cobham report, which estimated that the total number of carcases handled annually by all packs—fox, deer and...

New Clause 1: Disposal of Fallen Stock (27 Feb 2001)

Mr Edward Leigh: That is a fair point. I must accept that, if hunting is abolished and the fallen stock service vanishes, the type of area that I represent, a very arable area, could probably take the measure on board, leaving aside for the moment the other problems that agriculture is facing. We are not a livestock area. I accept the point that, for hon. Members representing livestock areas, the impact of...

New Clause 1: Disposal of Fallen Stock (27 Feb 2001)

Mr Edward Leigh: That is a very fair, rational and ethical point. I was trying to deal with the practicalities of what the Government can or cannot afford to do. If the Government have decided to abolish hunting—they have provided Parliament with the means of abolishing it—there is no way in which I would ever be able to persuade the Minister to compensate those who are losing their sport, those...

Oral Answers to Questions — Culture, Media and Sport: Recreational Shooting (26 Feb 2001)

Mr Edward Leigh: I am very glad to hear the Minister"s ringing endorsement; she, of course, has a fine record on such subjects, particularly hunting. She must be aware that the League Against Cruel Sports—I have seen literature from it—has recreational shooting firmly in its sights, believing that it is a cruel sport and that it is wrong that game should be artificially bred We have heard such...

Public Bill Committee: Hunting Bill: [Continuation from column 548] (15 Feb 2001)

Mr Edward Leigh: ...of the amendments until he realised which alley he was travelling up. He then had quickly to turn round. I do not know what the solution is on mink, but we all know that there are only 20 mink hunts. The number of mink that they kill in relation to the total number is tiny. Therefore, apparently, they are not an effective pest control. I will not go through all the arguments that they...

Public Bill Committee: Hunting Bill: [Continuation from column 548] (15 Feb 2001)

Mr Edward Leigh: ..., in our weaker moments, anthropomorphise. We have a different view, whatever the rationality of the situation with rats and rabbits. Supporters of a ban will get their way, presumably. Organised hunting will be abolished. However the Bill finishes its life, if it ever becomes law in some shape or form, in this incarnation or in the next—we do not know what will happen—let us...

Public Bill Committee: Hunting Bill: Schedule 3 - Hunting with Dogs: Prohibition (15 Feb 2001)

Mr Edward Leigh: Is the thinking behind Deadline 2000's viewpoint that mink hunting cannot be allowed to carry on because some people enjoy it and it is a sport? Does Deadline 2000 accept that mink are a complete pest that no one wants, but feel that they should be eradicated by other means? The hon. Lady has argued many times that that is not possible and that hunting is the most effective means of dealing...

Public Bill Committee: Hunting Bill: Schedule 3 - Hunting with Dogs: Prohibition (15 Feb 2001)

Mr Edward Leigh: I thought that the argument of the Bill's promoters was that organised hunts kill such a small proportion of foxes that getting rid of such hunts would make no appreciable difference to overall pest control. The hon. Member for Nottingham, South would get rid of organised hunts, but would still have the foxes. So what is his argument?

Public Bill Committee: Hunting Bill: Schedule 3 - Hunting with Dogs: Prohibition (15 Feb 2001)

Mr Edward Leigh: The hon. Lady is the expert and I am seeking information; the briefing notes that I have read have not explained the following point. Those who support the Bill say that mink hunts do not kill many mink—there are so few hunts that they are not effective as pest control. The hon. Lady has made some good speeches on the matter and I have read how expensive the traps are, that they must be...

Public Bill Committee: Hunting Bill: Schedule 3 - Hunting with Dogs: Prohibition (15 Feb 2001)

Mr Edward Leigh: If, as indeed it must be true, hunting rabbits is no more sport than hunting rats, why does Deadline 2000, to which we must be obedient, as it is our master in this Committee, believe that rats can be hunted with dogs but rabbits cannot? What is the justification behind that? Is it because rabbits are considered by Deadline 2000 to be more cuddly than rats? Is it not the truth that rabbits...