Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill

Lord Taylor of Holbeach Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 16th April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lord Randall of Uxbridge on picking up this Bill from the other place and presenting it so ably at Second Reading today. This small but important Bill could have no better sponsor. It has a simple purpose: to ensure that the courts have the ability to hand down sentences that fit the crime for those found guilty of cruelty to animals. I expect that we will find ourselves of one mind on this Bill.

I am not a believer that imprisonment is the answer in every case; indeed, it cannot be the solution to preventing all criminal activity or salvaging lives from a life of crime. However, I do believe that this modest measure is very much needed to deter and punish animal abusers and, if noble Lords have any doubt on this score, I ask them to remember the link between abuse of animals and abuse of people, as my noble friend Lady Fookes reminded the House.

I thank the RSPCA, the Dogs Trust and Battersea Dogs and Cats Home among others for their briefings today and over the years. We are all well served by our animal charities and their teams—I know this from being in opposition and in government, where as a Minister in both Defra and the Home Office I was responsible for animal welfare matters. I remember a visit to the RSPCA’s Harmsworth animal hospital in London, when I was a Defra Minister, working on dog control. I remember the dedication of the team there, and how they picked up the pieces of broken animals and put them slowly back together again.

As we have heard, this amendment to the law will bring England and Wales into line with the other nations of the British Isles. Increasing the maximum sentences will act as a deterrent for some and show that the criminal justice system takes these matters seriously. Cruelty to animals is not a party-political issue, and I hope that this House and Parliament will come together to do what is right, not just for animals but for our society as well. The British electorate and public expect nothing less.