Part of Hunting Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 11:15 am on 27 February 2003.
Does the hon. Gentleman not understand that there is a cost to keeping hounds, to keeping horses stabled and to maintaining the fabric of the hunting community? It would be no good for a hunting community or a hunt to be told 24 months or 3 years after their activities had been stopped by the force of criminal law, ''You can carry on now'', when people have lost their jobs or been turned out of their homes and the hounds have been lost or put to sleep. It is facile to suggest such a thing.