Sale of Puppies
Debate between Martyn Day and Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park(6 years, 6 months ago)
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Martyn Day
I thank the hon. Lady for her clarification. I shall come on to many of those points as my speech develops, addressing them in turn.
Zac Goldsmith (Richmond Park) (Con)
One of the reasons why a number of people on the EFRA Committee chose not to back the overall recommendations of the 2016 report was the position that was then taken by the RSPCA, one of the country’s great animal welfare organisations. It has, however, since changed its position, and it now supports Lucy’s law, largely as a consequence of campaigning by people such as Marc Abraham and his team. I want to put that on the record—the reasons for the rejection have since gone, and the RSPCA is now very much on board, as I understand it.
Martyn Day
That point is not included in my speech, so I am grateful for the additional clarification.
Lucy’s law calls for an immediate ban on all commercial third-party sales of dogs. Commercial means sales as part of a business—for profit, not rescue. Third-party sellers are dealers; they have not bred the dogs themselves and they operate as middlemen between breeders and the buying public. Currently, the Pet Animals Act 1951 requires third-party sellers to be licensed as a pet shop, irrespective of the type of trading premises they sell from.