Animal Welfare Bill

May I begin by entirely endorsing what the Secretary of State said about Tony Banks? He would have loved to be here to witness the Bill. He was a passionate champion of animal welfare—he was almost as passionate about that as he was about Chelsea. He was a funny and clever man. I had the privilege of serving under him on your advisory committee on works of art, Mr. Speaker, which was a joy. When I was shadow Culture Secretary, I had the pleasure of sparring with him when he was Minister for Sport. It was a joy to be insulted by Tony Banks. I will never forget the time that I said something that annoyed him and he said, ““I didn’t come to the Chamber to be insulted by a man with a Kevin Keegan haircut.”” That was Tony Banks and, my goodness, how he will be missed. I know that there is nothing like a debate about animals to bring hon. Members into the Chamber. A lot of people want to speak, so I shall do my best to be brief. However, let me begin by declaring an interest because I believe that I am a person who is responsible for a protected animal under the terms of the Bill. I own a dog, although it is a bit doubtful whether the dog would regard me as the responsible person because it steadfastly refuses to do anything that I ask it to do in our household. The Bill has had a long gestation period and many midwives. It is the result of a great deal of hard work by a large number of individuals and bodies. As did the Secretary of State, I pay tribute to the work of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee and its Chairman, my right hon. Friend the Member for Fylde (Mr. Jack). My hon. Friend the Member for Leominster (Bill Wiggin), who, I am pleased to say, will wind up the debate for the Opposition, also played a distinguished part in the Committee’s proceedings, and I thank all who did so, whether in the House and outside. The Bill is better for the work that they put in. The Government were right to introduce the Bill in draft form, allowing that input from a large number of different interests, but the scrutiny that that process enabled has exposed the complexity of the issues involved and the diversity of strongly held opinions on specific aspects of what is proposed. That complexity and conflict of opinion perhaps helps to explain why it has taken 95 years to get around to updating the basic framework of animal protection. It is not surprising that the Government have adopted a cautious, almost crablike approach to the legislation—although I notice that, rather unfairly, crabs are not covered under the terms of the Bill. The effect of that approach, however, is that a large number of potentially controversial measures that the Government say they intend to introduce do not appear in the Bill, but will be the subject of secondary legislation. However, before I say more about that, I want to make some general comments on what is clearly a well-intentioned and welcome Bill. The Secretary of State will be aware that there has been considerable debate about the definition of ““animal”” for the purposes of the Bill. Indeed, that subject has already been raised. The definition is confined to vertebrates other than man. As I understand it, the Bill’s purpose is to alleviate the suffering of animals. It would be logical, therefore, to extend that protection to all animals that have been found, on scientific evidence, to be capable of suffering. The Secretary of State and the hon. Member for North-West Leicestershire (David Taylor) know that it is the strongly held opinion of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and others that cephalopods—octopus, squid and cuttlefish—are capable of feeling pain. Despite what she said, it is hard to find any reason why the owners of such animals should not be subject to the duty of care that is being conferred on the owners of vertebrates.