Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alex Cunningham and James Paice

Thursday 5th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

10. What recent progress she has made on banning the use of wild animals by travelling circuses.

[The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr James Paice)]

My written statement to Parliament on 1 March 2012 confirmed our intent to ban wild animals in travelling circuses on ethical grounds. There are a number of issues to consider in developing the ethical case and the exact nature of the ban. We therefore hope to publish a draft Bill and full legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows. In the meantime, we aim to lay regulations shortly to introduce a new licensing scheme that will protect the welfare of such animals in the interval.

[Alex Cunningham]

In June 2011, the House of Commons unanimously passed a Back-Bench motion calling for all bans to be in place. We do not need to discuss it; we need to get on with a ban. DEFRA Ministers have failed to show any political leadership. They are just messing about, fiddling about. When will the Minister bow to the will of both the House and the public and bring forward the legislation?

[Mr Paice]

I can only repeat what I have just said. We have said we will introduce a ban on ethical grounds. We have also made it clear that we cannot introduce a ban on welfare grounds, because we believe that is legally flawed—

[Alex Cunningham]

Why not?

[Mr Paice]

I have explained several times why not. We believe that such a ban would be wide open to judicial challenge, which we might well lose, hence we are using ethical grounds. That will be done as soon as parliamentary time allows.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alex Cunningham and James Paice

Thursday 13th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Paice]

I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s words. This is a policy commitment that the Government have delivered on very clearly. We promised honest labelling and we now have a voluntary code in this country and mandatory country of origin labelling across a lot of products in Europe. I entirely agree with her point about quantities; Britain has its traditions and we want to stick to them.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

T6. Food prices have risen by 6% in the last year, costing a family with two young children an extra £350 a year. When will the Secretary of State do something positive to tackle speculation in food prices and its impact on families?