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Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

We on these Benches have great sympathy with the amendment. We shall return to it in a similar vein when we come to my noble friend’s Amendment No. 293A. We also received the very good briefing from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and we thank it for that. While outlining the great damage that is done to wild birds by the import trade, the society said how it did not oppose the keeping of birds in captivity or limited imports for conservation and research purposes. In the course of today’s discussion, my noble friend Lady Byford has mentioned the visit of Peter Ainsworth to Monks Wood research centre. I draw to the Government’s attention the comments he made that the failure to act would pose the question of whether wildlife is safe in Labour’s hands. We are very grateful that the Minister proposes to return to some of these issues.