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Animal Welfare Bill

I absolutely agree with my colleague, as a fellow member of the Showmen’s Guild, that this is killjoy stuff. I do not think that people outside this House will think that we are doing anything other than depriving youngsters of a particular joy that many of them have enjoyed over many years. As a boy in my home town of Ramsgate, I won a prize of a goldfish in the Merrie England amusement arcade. I assure noble Lords that we cared for that goldfish over many years. When I did my national service my family looked after that goldfish, and when I came back it was thriving as a result of their care. I believe that we demean ourselves in this place when we start talking along the lines of the amendment. Only yesterday, I was talking to one of our colleagues in this House who said that when his daughter went to university he said, ““We better get rid of the goldfish””, and his wife said, ““No, we cannot do that””. Again, they looked after the goldfish to the point when the daughter came back from university and it was thriving. To the best of my knowledge, that pet is still part of the family. The amendment is really overdoing it. I hope that the noble Baroness will, on reflection, recognise that she is proposing something that runs against the grain. Youngsters in this country who enjoy having a goldfish would feel deprived if we were to go down this line. I plead with her to withdraw her amendment.