Animal Welfare Bill

I was not going to mention that. There is such a mood of consensus and support across the House that it would be a pity to jeopardise it in any way, especially as I welcome the hon. Member for East Surrey (Mr. Ainsworth) to his first such debate in this Parliament in his new role. Those practices were eradicated, or largely eradicated, through statutory initiative. By progressively placing cruelty towards animals outside the bounds of acceptable behaviour, legislation has helped to create a society and a culture in which the vast majority of our fellow citizens abhor unnecessary suffering in animals. We hope and believe that the Bill will create an opportunity—just as the 1911 legislation created a platform on which cruelty became increasingly unacceptable—in the coming 100 years for human responsibility for animal welfare to be actively recognised, nurtured and practised. I hope that the Bill will serve the purpose of putting animal welfare at the heart of our legislation and that it will take us through the next 100 years, not least because the flexibility that it creates will allow us to make changes much more easily to reflect changing circumstances. I am happy to commend it to the House.