Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill

Debate between Neil Hudson and Carla Lockhart

2nd reading
Monday 25th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Dr Hudson]

My hon. Friend makes an interesting point. We have labour shortages, and the pig sector is producing pigs under pressure and to a timeline. Things can build up if there is a stoppage at any point on that timeline, which is what has happened.

I welcome the Government’s movement on visas, English language tests and cold storage, but I urge Ministers to go further and to work across Government. DEFRA needs to work with the Home Office and the Department for International Trade. We need to reopen the export market to China, too. I fear we have an impending animal welfare crisis, and I urge the Government to act quickly.

The Secretary of State touched on devolution, and it is great that the devolved nations are working together on this issue, which is important. I urge all four nations to work closely together so that we do not end up with unintended consequences from the Bill. Lucy’s law on third-party sales is progressive, but unscrupulous people are exploiting the loopholes caused by the differences between our devolved nations, so I urge the nations to work together.

[Carla Lockhart (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

The hon. Member may know that Lucy’s law has still not been legislated for in Northern Ireland, and that a colleague in the Northern Ireland Assembly is bringing it forward. Would he encourage the Department to assist us in closing the loopholes that people have realised exist here on the mainland?

[Dr Hudson]

The hon. Member makes a good point. I urge the UK Government to work with all the devolved Governments to close the loopholes in these well-intended laws. We should try to anticipate any loopholes in the Bill that unscrupulous people may try to exploit. We may have political differences on constitutional issues regarding the devolved nations, but I am sure that animal welfare unites us as a United Kingdom and as a House. I firmly believe that we can work together on that.

I really welcome the Bill. The Government are strong on animal welfare, with Bills on sentencing and legislation on pet theft. Animal welfare unites the House, and we have a duty of care to the fully sentient beings under our care. We need more specifics to make the Bill workable and pragmatic, and we must act urgently on certain issues, but I welcome the Bill and look forward to its passage.