Plenary Speech Transcript
I would like to echo and endorse many of the sentiments that have been expressed here today. This is a really important Bill coming forward and I think it deserves the full process and respect, really, to be applied to it.
The Welsh Conservatives and the cross-party group on the horse—a group consisting of AMs and organisations such as the British Horse Society, Redwings Horse Sanctuary, the Society for the Welfare of Horses and Ponies, the Countryside Alliance, the Welsh Pony and Cob Society and numerous others—have long called for this Government to take action and stand up strongly against fly-grazing. It is an act of blatant, irresponsible animal cruelty, intimidation of landowners, and of distinct disregard for public safety.
I echo the concerns of the committee chairs today who have had to express their concerns, once again, about how a Minister of the Welsh Government has bypassed a very important stage of the legislative process. This is more than a lost opportunity; this is a fundamental disregard of the legislative process and democratic functions of the National Assembly for Wales. It is fair to say that this Assembly is still in its infancy in having more comprehensive law-making powers. As we work together—one would hope—to develop legislation, I, certainly, want to be part of an Assembly and part of a law-making institution that takes its responsibilities seriously. I want to undertake and fulfil my role and duty in undertaking full and considered scrutiny and to be part of an institution that drafts, creates and delivers Bills that are fully sound, fully consulted upon and fully scrutinised.
I certainly do not want or expect to see Ministers—any Minister for that matter—to feel that they can ride rough shod over the democratic processes and functions of the National Assembly for Wales. These attempts to circumvent detailed scrutiny remind us once again of the rushed-through Agricultural Sector (Wales) Bill and the council tax reduction scheme fiasco that saw this Assembly recalled last December. I think that this is a blatant disregard for the devolution process itself and, Minister, I hope that you will reflect on your actions and that you will show equal respect, not just for the Chamber and its Members, but for the Assembly itself.
Clearly, in addressing this problem, we are not talking about the occasional horse escaping out of its field; we are now talking about serial offenders and blatant perpetrators. They know how to circumnavigate the system and they certainly know how to circumnavigate and avoid the law. These callous owners deliberately avoid traceability, allowing horses and dumping horses to graze on private land, public land and even our common land, and, as has been said, this denies essential nutrition for our native and feral ponies and our livestock grazing on the same. Any legislation coming forward should recognise the care and commitment that our responsible horse owners provide to their animals, while shifting the burden onto those who act with callous indifference to public safety, the rights of landowners over their own land and the welfare of equines. I therefore welcome that the actual owners, once traced—hopefully, this Bill will ensure that we do trace them—will now be liable for the full cost of any horse seized by a local authority or by a local landowner.
Much has been said about the need for passporting. I have raised with the Minister that, even now, the authorities have the powers, but they do not feel that they have the support, guidance or funding from the Welsh Government to implement—is the Minister busy over there? Dear, dear.
I would, however, welcome some further detail on how collaborative working is going to achieve what we need from this Bill. In terms of finance, it is somewhat concerning when members of the Finance Committee reckoned that you did not assure them, when asked, about how you were going to make this Bill as effective as it possibly could be. You and I know, Minister, that the Minister for local government has somewhat tied the hands of local authorities now, having safeguarded the social care and education budgets, meaning that efficiency savings have to come from across all departments. Trading standards and animal welfare officers are going to find themselves really struggling to support this.
In closing my contribution today, I wish to pay tribute to our local authorities’ trading standards departments, our police and our rescue centres for the excellent joined-up working that they do to protect the welfare of animals. I hope that you will stand up now and do your part as a Minister and not disregard this Assembly, its Members or the people of Wales.