Animal Health Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 7:56 pm on 22 October 2002.

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Photo of The Countess of Mar The Countess of Mar Crossbench 7:56, 22 October 2002

My Lords, I, too, willingly support the noble Lord, Lord Campbell of Alloway. In what may be regarded as rather a long speech, I heard the noble Lord, Lord Carter, whispering, "Are they paid by the minute?". We all think that about the lawyers in this House, because they all tend to go on a bit. That is a stock joke about them. However, the noble Lord, Lord Campbell, does himself a disservice by saying that he is just an ordinary lawyer. He is by no means an ordinary lawyer and he would not be in your Lordships' House if he were. His service to the House has proved otherwise. The noble Lord made some valid points. He pulled together many factors that should have been pulled together in the earlier stages of the Bill's progress.

I must make one major criticism of the Minister. The big amendments that we have considered this evening have been too big for Report stage. We needed more time to discuss them, and we have failed the farming community by not being able to discuss them properly. I am disappointed that we did not have the amendments when we were in Committee, as we should have done. After all, the Minister had all summer to produce the amendments.

The noble Lord, Lord Campbell of Alloway, made some good points in his amendment, and they should be accepted.