Results 1-20 of 25 for hunting speaker:Andrew Robathan

Sessional Orders: Debate on the Address — [First Day] (15 Nov 2006)

Andrew Robathan: ...keeping them at school, bored yet receiving an education maintenance allowance. The Queen's Speech was rotten and thin. The Government's heart is not in it, and neither is the Prime Minister's. He hunts for his legacy, but I fear that it will be Iraq, as the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Mr. Salmond) said. I served in the first Iraq war and I supported this war, partly because of...

Defence in the United Kingdom (17 Nov 2005)

Andrew Robathan: ...directly to Gen. Jackson, wrote to selected commanders. 'How did our officers perform?', he asked. 'Was abuse of Iraqi civilians widespread?' The brigadier said he was not 'conducting a witch-hunt' but added: 'I do need some evidence.' In a reference to press reports, he wrote: 'The media at the moment is giving our military discipline system a bit of a hammering and is also asking . . ....

Orders of the Day — Hunting Bill (15 Sep 2004)

Mr Andrew Robathan: ...that the name of the Minister for Rural Affairs and Local Environmental Quality is on the amendment and that he supports it and will accept it. That is a disgraceful abuse of Parliament. Either hunting with dogs should be banned, or it should not. Surely, that is clear to even the most stupid person on the Labour Benches who supports the amendment—[Interruption.] I think I am allowed...

Orders of the Day — Hunting Bill (15 Sep 2004)

Mr Andrew Robathan: ...really don't care, but I keep getting all these letters so I'll vote for a ban." That is the truth. Most people in the House—like most people outside—do not really care very much about hunting but they will subject the few people who hunt to the loss of their sport, and for many, of their livelihood, for petty, mean-minded reasons.

Orders of the Day — Hunting Bill (15 Sep 2004)

Mr Andrew Robathan: ...I wish that the Labour Members who are laughing could have listened to the farmer who telephoned me this morning. He certainly was not a toff; he was not an ex-Guards officer, unlike me. I do not hunt, incidentally. He rang me and asked, "Why are the Government doing this? How will I get rid of my dead calves? I don't hunt, but I let the hunt across my ground. Why are they doing it?" That...

Orders of the Day — Hunting Bill (15 Sep 2004)

Mr Andrew Robathan: Is not the point that people will give up working for hunts if they have this 18-month rundown, and they will then no longer have a claim for compensation against this ghastly and illiberal legislation?

Orders of the Day — Hunting Bill (15 Sep 2004)

Mr Andrew Robathan: How can the right hon. Gentleman say, on the front of the Bill, that in his view "the provisions of the Hunting Bill are compatible with the Convention" on human rights, given that the Joint Committee on Human Rights found that they are not?

Debate on the Address — [First Day] (26 Nov 2003)

Mr Andrew Robathan: ...more sensible discussion about funding higher education. When 40 per cent. of students drop out of some courses before the end, we need to consider the matter closely. What is not in the Queen's Speech? Hunting is not included, except where Her Majesty had a slight trip and talked about the national hunt service. The newspapers report that Back Benchers were offered a bribe to...

Fireworks Bill (28 Feb 2003)

Mr Andrew Robathan: ..."Pain and Stress in Fish", last updated in 1994, which stated: "The society's policy is to oppose the infliction of pain and suffering in the name of sport"— which is why it is opposed to hunting, and "the case for fish feeling pain is surprisingly complete". When the RSPCA writes to me to complain, I hope that it will tell me all about that. The situation regarding fireworks is...

Orders of the Day — Enterprise Bill: New Clause (30 Oct 2002)

Mr Andrew Robathan: We are, of course, delighted that the Government have listened to the sensible arguments put forward in another place by my noble Friends Lord Kingsland, Lord Hunt of Wirral and others. The Government are rather foolish to say that their current belief is that the provision will not be necessary. Experienced lawyers have concluded that it will be necessary, and I am therefore delighted that...

Standards and Privileges (13 Feb 2002)

Mr Andrew Robathan: ...four years ago, a Labour Member informed me that he had been told that the rottweilers were after me because I had registered my disapproval of an action by the Prime Minister. We all dislike witch hunts; they do not add to the esteem of the House, and neither does this sort of occasion. I would rather that this did not happen, but, sadly, we do not live in an ideal world. The hon. Member...

Orders of the Day — Hunting Bill: Hunting Bill (17 Jan 2001)

Mr Andrew Robathan: ...very amusingly, of the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable. On this occasion, tint refers to Labour Back Benchers— many of whom are usually quite decent—in pursuit of the uneatable huntsman. On Radio 4 this morning, the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, the hon. Member for North Warwickshire (Mr. O'Brien), refused to accept that fishing was cruel or that it...

Debate on the Address (6 Dec 2000)

Mr Andrew Robathan: ...Budget will be unashamedly populist—it will be buying votes. Many of the measures in the Queen's Speech will not reach the statute book. The hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley referred to legislation on hunting with dogs. It is almost certain that that Bill will not reach the statute book in this Parliament. The Government know that—indeed, they have so designed it for their...

Debate on the Address (6 Dec 2000)

Mr Andrew Robathan: ...will be judged on how they deliver, and they have not yet delivered much. The proposal is more about spin than substance; it is a showboat. One or two of my hon. Friends disagree with me about hunting. I know that the hon. Member for Heeley disagrees with me because he said so. I do not hunt; I can hardly ride, but I have attended meets. I have never hunted on a horse, although I have...

Debate on the Address (6 Dec 2000)

Mr Andrew Robathan: I suspect that the hon. Gentleman and I are not likely to agree on this point. He said that it was wrong to hunt and to put blood on a child's face. I do not especially like that practice, but is he seriously suggesting that we should legislate because, due to some bizarre tradition, huntsmen wish to blood children's faces? That is a bizarre suggestion. As regards cruelty, of course we are...

Business of the House (20 Jul 2000)

Mr Andrew Robathan: ...? In particular, could he explain to the House and the country why it has disappeared off the web? It used to be found on the Cabinet Office website, but it has now been reorganised out. One can hunt around the web for as long as one likes. One can turn to something which is misleadingly called the opengov.com site, but the statement is not there—nor is there very much else there....

Petition: Hunting with Dogs (7 Jul 2000)

Mr Andrew Robathan: ...that the free vote is the means by which the debate will be brought to a conclusion. Let us suppose that the Houses of Parliament, in their wisdom, were to decide that there should be no ban on fox hunting—no change in the status quo. Would he accept that that had brought the issue to a conclusion?

Orders of the Day — Referendums Bill (19 Mar 1999)

Mr Andrew Robathan: ...could lead to a fundamental shift of authority from both national and local government. We have even heard some pretty strange ideas about holding referendums by county or district on whether fox hunting should take place in a particular locality. I have introduced the Bill, therefore, because referendums are here to stay—at least in the short term.

Prayers: Sport Hunting (29 Oct 1997)

Mr Andrew Robathan: I wish to declare a lack of interest as I do not hunt. I have been beagling a few times and I have attended meets, but I do not hunt and hardly ever ride—I can just about stay on a horse. Therefore, I am not arguing from a personal viewpoint. The hon. Member for Norwich, North (Dr. Gibson) made an interesting speech and his scientific analysis was interesting. However, when it came...

Prayers: Sport Hunting (29 Oct 1997)

Mr Andrew Robathan: I do not hunt but I occasionally fish. Unlike the hon. Gentleman, I am not a keen fisherman. In an interesting speech, the hon. Member for Norwich, North (Dr. Gibson) spoke about the science of the matter and finally dealt with its morality. Is it moral because you enjoy catching creatures with a hook in their mouths? That question must go hand in hand with whether it is moral to chase...