Part of Hunting Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 10:15 am on 25th January 2001.
I would like to answer the hon. Gentleman's first intervention before taking the next one.
The prosecuting authorities would handle the matter in the usual way. One problem is that the schedule assumes that the police and, by extension, the Crown Prosecution Service, will act, not simply in response to offences observed by a constable, but in response to a complaint about an alleged offence put before the police. One reason why the Bill includes a power of arrest is so that the police can follow up an allegation of an offence.