Animal Welfare Bill

My Lords, naturally, I am disappointed by the Minister’s reply. I took very much to heart last year the words of one of his predecessors at Defra, Mr Jim Knight, who in talking about the importation of wild birds, said that the Government needed to ““raise the bar”” on the standards that had to be met. The Minister has given the perhaps slightly disingenuous example of whether water was supplied. The question of a suitable environment or the need to exhibit normal behaviour patterns would have been a much fairer example with which to reply. The response of the noble Baroness, Lady Byford, surprises me, because her colleague in another place, Mr Jim Paice, has been extremely vociferous about the issue of wild caught birds, and he would have felt very strongly about supporting the spirit of the amendment. Of course, the Minister may say that the way in which the amendment is drafted would weaken the clause, but it was open to him to bring forward something that his experts might have found more suitable. I think he is saying that he finds the whole concept unnecessary and unsuitable.