Animal Welfare Bill

I am delighted to take part in the debate and to follow the hon. Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup (Derek Conway). There is genuine cross-party support for the Bill, and that has been reflected in my constituency and, I am sure, in the constituencies of all other hon. Members. On the publication of the draft Bill, I consulted those of my constituents who had an interest in animal welfare issues, and asked for their opinions on the Bill. I am pleased to say that the majority of those people expressed their support for the measure. In line with many of the opinions that have been expressed in the debate so far, they had certain reservations and certain concerns, one of which was the issue of performing animals in circuses. I have questions about animal sanctuaries. A number of the constituents to whom I spoke accept that there will be increases in penalties and punishments. A significant number of them—probably about half of those who expressed an opinion to me—wanted tougher penalties. They wanted prison sentences to be longer. They wanted fines to be higher and they wanted tougher disqualification for owning animals in future. This relates to an issue raised earlier on the penalties issue, which concerns custody plus. The penalty of imprisonment could be reduced to about 13 weeks without custody plus. I understand that that is less than under current sentencing arrangements. We must consider this issue. My constituents are saying that the penalties should be greater, so that if we have custody plus people will be put away for what they consider to be a reasonable time. I shall now discuss performing animals in circuses. My constituents have strong opinions on this issue. I found that 95 per cent. of people felt that the use of wild animals in circuses should be banned. As other hon. Members have said, I share that view. Many years ago I served as a councillor on the same council as the hon. Member for East Surrey (Mr. Ainsworth). It introduced one of the first bans in Britain on performing circuses on council land, and many local authorities followed suit by refusing to allow circuses to perform on council-owned land. The issue has therefore received strong support up and down the country for many years. MORI opinion polls consistently show that over 60 per cent. of people in Britain would like to ban performing animals in circuses.