Glue Traps (Offences) Bill

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 25th March 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Con)]

My Lords, it is always a great pleasure to follow my noble friend Lord Randall—particularly when he is so brief. It is also a great pleasure to follow my noble friend Lady Fookes, who is well known for her commitment to animal welfare and who set out the case with admirable clarity for why this measure is needed.

Obviously, I speak in favour of this Bill. I also pay tribute to Jane Stevenson in the other place for the work she has done on it and thank the Government and the Minister for facilitating this very sensible and positive measure. It deals with unspeakable and unnecessary cruelty to primarily rodents, as we have heard, but it also applies to hedgehogs, robins, birds, pets—to all animals that are caught in these dreadful traps and then die of hunger, dehydration, exposure and suffocation, often clawing through their own limbs to get free.

The RSPCA has done considerable work in this area, and also deserves praise. Although this is not the primary reason for the legislation, it is worth saying that these traps can pose a considerable danger to human health, because the animals defecate and urinate once they are caught. It is also worth saying that public opinion, unsurprisingly, is very strongly in favour of legislation in this area. We should not lose sight of that.

We have heard about the experience of New Zealand; Ireland has acted in a similar way. I am not sure whether Ireland has the exceptional circumstances exemption that New Zealand has, but there is no evidence of a particular hazard from rodents—from pests—because of their acting in the way we are looking at here. Can the Minister tell us whether Ireland has a similar exceptional circumstances exemption to New Zealand’s, and as is proposed here? I can see the case that has been made by my noble friend for such an exemption, but it must be as narrowly drawn as it is because of the cruelty involved. May I also ask the Minister about the devolved Administrations? I gather that Scotland and Wales are progressing similar legislation, but I am not sure whether that is true of Northern Ireland. It would be strange if they were the only authority within the UK and Ireland that is not acting, and it would be good to hear about that.

Upon going online, it is obvious that it is very easy to purchase these things through Amazon, for example. Enter “glue traps” and up pops a plethora of places where you can order them. If we legislate as is proposed here—and I hope we do—outlets that offer these things would, I think, be caught and it would be illegal to do so unless they are offered expressly to those with a licence, proof of which would be required. The Minister may wish to comment on this. I appreciate that he might not want to be too specific about the legislative position, but it seems to me that these people are aiding and abetting the commission of an offence if they are offering these things for sale to members of the public, even if they are operating outside the jurisdiction. If they are sending these things to people in the UK, it seems to me that they are knowingly causing or permitting an offence to be committed, but it would be good to have that confirmed, if possible.

Like my noble friend Lady Fookes, I think two years is far too long to wait; we should be able to act much more quickly than that. I cannot see why it should take so long, but that said, we clearly need to have publicity and education about the measure, particularly on the impact on people who are offering glue traps for sale. What is going to be done in that regard?

That said, this is an extremely sensible measure. I am sure it will be evident that there is widespread support within the House for it, just as there is among the public. It would be really good if we could progress it very quickly. I strongly support of the Bill.