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Animals Act 1971 (Amendment) Bill

It has been enlightening for me to hear today's comments—I am not merely referring to the journey that has taken us back to Exodus and the sound principle that if an ox misbehaves, it should be stoned to death, as should its owner. I should like to place on record my respect for the hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire (Mr. Crabb). He is doing the right thing, but possibly in the wrong way. He has identified a cause that is of wide concern, not only in this House, but outside the Chamber and throughout the country. That concern is reflected in the, admittedly, informal consultation that took place under the auspices of the Minister who was responsible for the horse industry at the time, my hon. Friend the Member for Brent, North (Barry Gardiner). I was impressed to note that in the henotic spirit that so often informs the hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire, his supporters included not only a group of MPs predominantly representing rural areas, but my hon. Friend the Member for Brent, North. When I looked at the list of the Bill's supporters, my initial concern was whether this was yet another rural and urban divide and whether this issue was of great concern to the rural community but of less concern to the urban community. As an urban MP, I was pleased to note that my hon. Friends the Members for Vauxhall (Kate Hoey) and for Brent, North were among the sponsors of the Bill. Were anyone to think that this was entirely a rural issue and urban Members should not speak to it, they need simply accompany me on my diurnal journey to this place. It is my pleasure to pass along the Bayswater road, and as I draw adjacent to Rotten row, the road is often crossed by many people riding horses, as apparently some stables are tucked away there, not a million miles from the new residence of the former Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair. As the horses cross the road, I frequently concern myself with a possible interaction between them and my motorbike or car, whichever I happen to be using on the day. I have given some thought to the issues that the Bill raises, and my difficulty is that the hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire proposes to limit the liability expressed in the Animals Act 1971. If he proposes to limit liability, he must do so with a purpose. By limiting liability in one area, he will increase liability in another. If the liability that is legally incumbent on the owner or the keeper of the animal is limited, it is diluted from the perspective of a victim of that animal. We then enter this extraordinarily difficult area. Any person with any element of common sense would want a system in which if a person is not a good and careful animal keeper, they—and not the innocent animal—should be liable for the actions of that creature. Over and over again, we see examples of animals that exist in a state of natural nobility being turned, twisted, perverted or shaped in a way to suit a human design. It is people who act thus whom we seek to punish. We do not seek to penalise the animal, as the case law so exhaustively delineated by my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore) shows. It is not the characteristics of the animal that are of concern, but the strict legal point about whether it is reasonable for that animal to react in a certain way, whether because of provocation from persons of restricted growth in circuses, because a paper bag blew across a field, or because it is giving birth or protecting its young. My instinct is to support the hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire, because his Bill is a response to a widespread concern, but I also feel that he is not approaching it in entirely the right way. It is the issue of the ownership or keeping of the animal that cannot be addressed within the scope of his admirably brief Bill. If the Animals Act 1971 were to be amended in this way, the people to gain from it would be the personal injury lawyers. I understand that my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon is a distinguished member of that profession, and I would never dare to criticise it. I am sure that personal injury lawyers have their purpose, and one day I will discern what that purpose actually is. They are the people who would have to tidy up the mess.