Animal Welfare Bill

moved Amendment No. 8: Page 7, line 19, at end insert- ““( ) Nothing in this section applies to the offering of a goldfish as a prize.”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, on the face of it, this amendment may seem frivolous, but I assure noble Lords that that is far from the case, as many youngsters up and down the country would testify. The three of us who have tabled the amendment are all members of the All-Party Group on Fairs and Showgrounds and we work closely with the Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain, a responsible body that represents more than 20,000 people in that profession. I know that it is fully behind the objectives of this amendment, which is designed to combat the purpose of the original amendment tabled in Committee by the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer. In Committee, I related my experience of winning a goldfish as a schoolboy at the Merrie England amusement arcade in Ramsgate. The fish was well looked after until it died, which was, I should tell noble Lords, from natural causes. Before that happened, the fish brought great joy not only to me, but to my brothers and sister. I know from correspondence that I have received since the Committee stage that my sentiments and those of the noble Lords, Lord Bilston and Lord Hoyle, are shared by many hundreds of people in this country. I said in Committee that the amendment then proposed by the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer, went over the top. At the end of our debate, she withdrew her amendment on the grounds, I hope, of the strength of our arguments, particularly that of the noble Lord, Lord Hoyle—unfortunately, he cannot be here today, as he is stuck in a traffic jam—who requested that we should return to this issue on Report with a suitable amendment. That is where we are today. I sincerely hope that sense will prevail and that the practice of allowing goldfish to be won as prizes will continue. The Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain has taken measures to ensure that anyone who wins a goldfish as a prize is presented with a leaflet drawn up by the RSPCA and headed ““Care of Goldfish””, which provides advice on how to care for the fish. The RSPCA is surely the kind of body that this House should listen to, alongside my noble friends and me. I beg to move.