Game Birds (Cage Breeding) Bill [HL]

Lord Randall of Uxbridge Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 25th March 2022 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Lord Randall of Uxbridge]

That the Bill be now read a second time.

[Lord Randall of Uxbridge (Con)]

My Lords, this Bill is not about the rights and wrongs of game shooting per se, its merits or demerits. Actually, well-managed shoots can be of conservation benefit, in terms of habitat management, although it would be very good if we finally got around to banning lead ammunition. Game meat is very healthy—unless of course it has lead in it, so that is something else we want to look at. However, the Bill is not about this at all; the Bill is about a welfare issue.

I take issue with the incredible number of pheasants and red-legged partridges that are now being released into the wild on an annual basis. I found a figure from the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, which estimated in 2016 that 47 million pheasants and 10 million red-legged partridges were released into the wild for shooting. Those are incredible numbers and there is research by both the GWCT and the RSPB; I declare my interest as a council member of the RSPB. Both organisations have published research which I recommend that noble Lords read. There are just too many—big numbers—being released into the wild for shooting. However, as I said, this is about welfare.

Many people, when they go into the countryside and see pheasants roaming around—rather beautiful birds with their rather evocative call—perhaps in the evening when they are going to roost or whatever, might think that this is part of the rural idyll. What I think a lot of people do not quite realise is that many of these birds, although not all, have actually been bred in what amount to factory farms. My Bill would outlaw raised laying cages—battery cages, in fact.

I have seen estimates that about six to 10 farms still use raised battery-style laying units: small cages that are shared by one male pheasant with up to 10 females, with sometimes as little as 33 square centimetres per bird. Very often the floors are of sloped wire mesh in order for the eggs to fall down to be more readily collected, and they have roofs of wire netting, which can sometimes scalp the birds.

Partridges are kept in even smaller enclosed cages. In fact, I was surprised to find a quantity of Defra papers—which I will show my noble friend the Minister in case he has not seen them—that reckon that nearly all red-legged partridges released on shooting estates were breeding birds with less space than a piece of A4 paper. I find that very difficult to believe, but that is what the Defra research said.

I had hoped to visit a game farm before I came to Second Reading. I have been in discussions with the Game Farmers’ Association and I am hoping to visit next week to see one in operation, avian flu allowing—I think avian flu has hit a lot of the imports that we have been getting from France, which is another bone of contention for me, given the possibility of the introduction of not just avian flu but other diseases. I understand that the Game Farmers’ Association encourages good practice with a code of conduct—I am sure it does, as I am sure I will see—but I do not think every game farm is a member. That is why we need legislation.

I know a lot of my colleagues, both in this place and the other place, will say that the Conservative way is self-regulation. I am afraid that, from time to time, self-regulation has been proved not to be effective. I feel that there must be something that can be done.

Clause 1 of my Bill would outlaw, as I have said already, keeping pheasants or partridges in raised laying or battery cages for producing eggs. Clause 2 sets minimum sizes for enclosure. Clause 3 covers the penalties.

I noticed a Statement from my friend in the other place last year saying that the Government were going to be calling for evidence. That is the very least that should be happening, and it should be happening soon. This Government have a pretty good record on animal welfare, but there is a bit of a problem with game birds. They start of possibly as livestock, if they are in cages, and so should have the same regulations as other livestock do. That is one of the things I find strange. Once they are released, they become wild birds, and then have a different status. Sometimes, of course, they are caught again at the end of the season—I am not an expert on these things at all—and they become livestock again. It is actually quite a complicated business—I would say it is a ridiculous situation.

We need to give these birds the very best opportunity of having high welfare standards, as we would to poultry or ducks. It is about time we had regulation on the statute books. I beg to move.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Randall of Uxbridge (Con)]

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have taken part in this debate; some very good points were made. I mention in particular the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, but I also very much welcomed the comments from my noble friends Lord Leicester and Lord Erroll. Private Members’ Bills come in a variety of categories. There are those that aim to legislate—obviously, that is their nature—but others that aim to raise the issues higher up the agenda.

My noble friend Lord Leicester suggested that I might have conflated raised cages with battery cages. In a normal cycle, these things would be raised and discussed in Committee, and a Bill could be amended. I am not going to sob myself to sleep over this one. The Government have described my proposals as unnecessary and premature—this is not the first time that I have been described in such terms, including by various family members—but it has been important to raise these issues.

The noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, asked me where the suggestion of two square metres came from. That was put in with a view to establishing through debate whether that would be the correct measurement. I recognise that many people, both within your Lordships’ House and outside, have direct knowledge of this. I have already spoken to game farm specialists and I will be meeting some. But the point of some of these things is exactly what we have heard.

I know that my noble friend the Minister cares as much as I do about conservation and the welfare of animals, but he sits on the Front Bench. That is a slight difference; he is somewhat constrained, not necessarily by his immediate colleagues but by other forces out there, including even, perhaps, some down the road. We have had a very interesting debate. I live in hope that this will be given a Second Reading, because this is the House of Lords—if we were the House of Commons, we would have booted it out. With that, I beg to move.

Bill read a second time and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.