My Lords, bovine TB is one of the most serious challenges facing our cattle farmers in England, so I very much welcome the control strategy announced this morning by the Government, which makes a positive step change in the approach to that control. I have not seen the details yet, but will the Mini…
Can the Minister reassure the House that the scientific progress and eminence established in the UK on precision breeding, particularly of crops and animals, and in particular with regard to resistance to disease and environmental stressors, will be safeguarded in the current negotiations?
The war in Iran has highlighted a number of areas where there is cause for concern in the long term. Clearly, there has been a lot of concern around the availability of fertiliser. As I mentioned earlier, it is a global market. While we do not see that there is an immediate risk in UK supply, we are…
LordsOral Questions12 February 20262 contributions
That is a really important question, because this is an incredibly important issue, and I am personally very committed to doing that. We are looking for the best and earliest legislative opportunity to bring in a close season for the brown hare, and I am keen that we get that done as soon as practic…
My Lords, I am pleased to follow my noble friend Lord Trees. I support the regulations. I should also like to thank the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, for having tabled this amendment because it enables the House to consider matters we do not often have the chance to hear about or dis…
The question from the noble Lord, Lord Trees, gives me the opportunity to mention the demonstration of life protocol for sheep and goats. I know that he is a very strong proponent of this. In fact, his support was instrumental in establishing the protocol, which is based on the New Zealand model. I …
My Lords, I declare my interest as chairman of Brineflow Ltd and a director of farming company Sentry Ltd. I have spent over 30 years in the fertiliser industry. In the last 12 months, I have participated in some of the highest-rated fertiliser-related videos on YouTube. They are not mucky videos; t…
My Lords, it has been a great privilege to bring forward this Bill, which seeks to prevent the illegal and low-welfare movement of pets into the UK. At Second Reading I remarked that I hoped it would be third time lucky for this Bill, and today I am thrilled to present it for its third and last read…
My Lords, today we can be proud that we are a nation that truly loves our pets and legislates for them too. Dogs, cats and—yes—ferrets will be protected in the future by this new law. That is a tribute to all the vets, owners and rescue charities who have dealt with these terrible cruelties and camp…
My Lords, I understand that no amendments have been set down to this Bill and that no noble Lord has indicated a wish to move a manuscript amendment or to speak in Committee. Unless, therefore, any noble Lord objects, I beg to move that the order of commitment be discharged.
My Lords, I understand that no amendments have been set down to this Bill and that no noble Lord has indicated a wish to move a manuscript amendment or to speak in Committee. Unless, therefore, any noble Lord objects, I beg to move that the order of commitment be discharged.
We have a new Farming Minister in the other place who is very keen to support farmers. We want to ensure that farmers become profitable, and that includes beef farmers. It is important that we support our food security in this country, and that we work with farmers to help them do so. We also do not…
My Lords, I start by congratulating the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, on getting this legislation to the House. Not a lot of people know this, but she and I first met back in 2007, when we were doing our candidate selection course at a hotel in Milton Keynes. Ever since then, she has been a most wond…
My Lords, I hope that noble Lords will know of my enduring commitment to animal welfare. As a veterinary surgeon and co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare, I have tried to be a vocal advocate on a range of animal health and welfare issues.
I am honoured to present the Ani…
My Lords, I support the Bill and thank our two parliamentary veterinary Members, Dr Danny Chambers in the other place and the noble Lord, Lord Trees, for their sponsorship of this measure, introduced with the backing and support of the Government. This is an enabling Bill, setting minimum thresholds…
We look at how we can improve our food production and food sustainability in this country. It is important that we support our own food producers in doing that and that we protect them against substandard products coming in from abroad.
I rise to support Amendment 48 in the name of my noble friends Lord Kinnoull and Lord de Clifford. It is a short amendment but, hopefully, could have a long impact. It would allow tenants in social housing some of the benefits with regard to keeping a pet that this Bill will provide for tenants in p…
My Lords, I too will speak to Amendment 53A, but first I thank the Minister and her team for their Amendment 49 and the consequential amendments, which will improve this Bill substantially. I thank her for the helpful letter about assistance dogs, which is a matter I raised in Committee and at Secon…
That is a very important point. On the economics of this, we know that for every £1 invested through Gavi there is a return of around £54 through lives saved and fulfilling lives lived. As far as the UK is concerned, the noble Lord is right to remind us that we are leaders in devising vaccines and v…
The noble Lord makes some important points. Interestingly, since Brexit our exports have gone down by 21%. We are very hopeful that the new agreement we are working on with the EU at the moment will enable our farmers to export more, help our agri-food trade be cheaper and easier, and help us align …
My Lords, I had the honour of joining the Environment and Climate Change Committee just as it embarked upon this inquiry into CH 4 , which, as we heard from many of our American witnesses, is something called methane.
Let me share a useful analogy with noble Lords. In January 2020, I attended the O…
My Lords, given my experience with polling, I wish to focus on one particular statement made by Defra which underpins this Statutory Instrument. In the de minimis impact assessment, it says that polling commissioned by Defra, from YouGov in 2022, found that
“over half (57%) of respondents thought t…
My Lords, I will speak briefly in support of Amendment 124 in the names of the noble Earl, Lord Kinnoull, and others. Like the noble Baroness, Lady Fookes, and the noble Earl, I am at a loss to understand why potential tenants in social housing are not included in the Bill. I would have thought that…
My Lords, I support Amendments 127, 128 and 129 in the name of my noble friend Lord Kinnoull and others. With regard to pets, the main purpose of the Bill is to make it more likely that landlords will accept tenants with pets. That is its purpose, surely, and it is an objective that I fully support,…
My Lords, according to National Grid: Live, we are currently relying on interconnectors from Europe for 25% of our energy. Apart from the cost of importing that energy, how much assurance do we have that that electricity comes, and will come, from decarbonised generating capacity?