Orders of the Day — Pig Husbandry Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 1:59 pm on 25 January 1991.

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Photo of Sir David Amess Sir David Amess , Basildon 1:59, 25 January 1991

I warmly congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Holland with Boston (Sir R. Body) on introducing the Bill. I have no intention of delaying the proceedings and I shall have no hesitation in supporting the Bill. I arrived here this morning, naively believing that not many hon. Members would wish to speak and that this was a fairly uncontentious measure—how wrong one can be.

The House may wonder about Basildon's interest in the Bill. There are still 28 farms and smallholdings in Basildon and a few of my constituents still keep pigs. My constituents enjoy pork, ham and bacon, but they have no wish to enjoy that food if it has been produced by cruel means. It is clear that tethering sows for four months is cruel and is a treatment more suited to being dished out to Mr. Hussein.

Between 1955 and 1959 my hon. Friend the Member for Holland with Boston represented the constituency which I now represent and he is still remembered with affection by my constituents. He will recall how warmly the people of Vange thought about him. A few years ago, those people came to my surgery complaining about the cruel tethering of horses, ponies and donkeys. I introduced a ten-minute Bill and, judging by what happened this morning, I had better fortune than my hon. Friend. With the assistance of my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Grantham (Mr. Hogg), the then Minister, the Bill went through on the nod and the debate in the other place resulted in its name being changed. I am happy to tell the House that since 1988 there has been an Act that prevents horses, ponies and donkeys from being cruelly tethered.

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Holland with Boston on the Bill. I hope that the House will give it a Second Reading.