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Lord Carter: My Lords, the Bill states:
- "The Secretary of State may cause to be slaughtered".
Lord Renton: My Lords, I am not suggesting that there should never be slaughter. Vaccination may sometimes fail. However, that is the application of the principle. I believe that we should support it.
Lord Palmer: My Lords, I, too, would like to support my noble friend and the amendments. Despite
what the noble Lord, Lord Carter, says, I feel that they are a vital safeguard. Having been sandwiched in at home with outbreaks of foot and mouth literally at the top and the bottom of the garden, every single animal at home was slaughtered. Needless to say, all the tests proved negative. To my dying day I shall be haunted by the sight of the executioners waiting at the bottom of the road to move into my neighbours' farms. Again, all their animal tests proved negative.My noble friend's amendment makes such good common sense and we must not forget the vast experience that she has in animal health husbandry. It must be virtually second to none. I urge the Minister most strongly to consider the amendments.
Lord Moran: My Lords, it is generally agreed that there are now two options for dealing with the problem of uninfected animals which are near an outbreak: either slaughtering them, as last time, or vaccinating them to live. It is generally accepted that one or other option may be appropriate in different circumstances. However, I believe that the balance is wrong because the emphasis is entirely on slaughter. I make no apology for reminding your Lordships of my comments on 7th October (col. 29) when I quoted a speech by Commissioner Byrne. I repeat what the Commissioner said because I do not believe that the Government have taken any notice of it:
- "It is no longer acceptable to the public that large numbers of animals can be slaughtered and destroyed now that new diagnostic tests have been developed and are available which differentiate between infected and vaccinated animals".
- "the Commission is of the view that emergency vaccination should be moved to the forefront of the response mechanism in the event of future outbreaks . . . vaccination had been viewed as a weapon of last resort. It is now time to break with this approach".
I believe that is the motive behind my noble friend's amendment, which I support. I support much of what has been said by subsequent speakers. Amendment No. 7 proposes a new clause headed "Disease control (slaughter) protocol". There is nothing about vaccination. It seems that the whole wording reflects a policy of killing uninfected animals, instead of giving emergency vaccination. Both possibilities should exist. There should be more in the Bill reflecting the possibility of emergency vaccination because that is clearly a valid possibility.
I hope that the Minister can give us reassurance and will seek to correct the balance—the wording, more than the actual provisions—to ensure that the matter is reflected in a fair way. That would be reassuring to many farmers and to many of your Lordships.
The Lord Bishop of Hereford: My Lords, I support what was said by the noble Lord, Lord Moran. I also support both those amendments. At the risk of repeating what I said in Committee, it is a matter of presentation, style and perception. If a dispassionate observer were to write a critique of what has happened with this legislation during the past year, it would be
clear that there has been a process of evolution and development. In the wake of foot and mouth, when slaughter was the only known policy—or the policy that was agreed and imposed, which even the NFU wanted to maintain in the face of those who were advocating vaccination—it was natural that the Government were conscious that some culls had been frustrated. Therefore, a Bill was needed to make it possible to act quickly in cases where frustration might occur again in a future outbreak.That was understandable. That was the genesis of the Bill. The whole issue has changed enormously from a year ago. The Government have made many concessions. I am grateful to the Minister for withdrawing the word "immaterial". There is a possibility that I might give your Lordships a rendition of the Te Deum in thanksgiving for that change. However, the noble Lord, Lord Carter, for whom I have a lot of sympathy, seems to be creating an unnecessary problem. He says that vaccination is on the face of the Bill. That is true, but it is secretly tucked away in Clause 3. It is there by implication. It is actually on the face of the Bill, but one has to read rather a lot before one comes to it.
Lord Carter: My Lords, if the right reverend Prelate will give way—
The Countess of Mar: Order! Order! My Lords, perhaps I may remind the noble Lord that we are at the Report stage.
Lord Carter: My Lords, I am allowed to respond. I can tell the noble Countess that I know the rules. I can respond to an intervention which mentions me and asks me a question. I am saying that the provision is on the face of the Bill:
- "This section applies to any animal which has been treated with vaccine".
The Lord Bishop of Hereford: My Lords, I acknowledge that the provision is printed in Clause 3, but it is not at the front of the Bill. It is not what the Bill appears to be about. The two amendments that we are discussing try to put it at the front and make it prominent and clear that this is what we want to see happening. In Committee, the Minister said—the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, quoted his words—that we want to put the provision on the face of the Bill before we get into the slaughter procedures, which are the fall-back position. I believe that all of your Lordships are agreed that now slaughter should be the fall-back position and the last resort.
That is why the sequential test, set out in Amendment No. 2, is helpful. Perhaps the Minister and the noble Lord, Lord Carter, will consider the wording of that amendment. It says:
- "the Secretary of State must have regard to a sequential test".
These amendments are important to the farming community because they put at the front of the Bill our present position and the ideal to which we aspire. It is conceivable that if we were to pass Amendment No. 1 in the name of the noble Countess, Lady Mar, which inserts the words "shall give priority", the Government will say, "Well, actually we are still not quite sure enough to be willing to accept that". I would support that amendment and I believe that the European Parliament report is strong and authoritative enough to enable us to do that with conviction. I would also support Amendment No. 2 because it sets out the sequential test.
However, I am puzzled that the Minister and the noble Lord, Lord Carter, still cannot understand why the presentation of the Bill matters so much to the perception of the farming community. I fervently hope that the Government will accept the amendments. I believe they are desperately needed by farmers who are still deeply resentful about the tone of the Bill and the hangover from the time when it originated. We have moved on from there and we need to recognise that in the wording of the Bill.
Lord Campbell of Alloway: My Lords, I shall be brief. I support both amendments tabled by the noble Countess, Lady Mar. I shall return to the matter when I deal with my Amendment No. 19, particularly subsection (4), dealing with the exercise of powers. That is relevant to the speeches which were made by the right reverend Prelate and the noble Lord, Lord Moran. I shall not deal with the matter now, but it is crucial to balance vaccination as against slaughter.
3.45 p.m.
Lord Monro of Langholm: My Lords, the right reverend Prelate and the noble Lord, Lord Moran, hit the nail on the head by raising the issue of the presentation and tone of the Bill. During the last session of the Committee stage we began to think that the Minister was coming to realise that its wording could not be more unsympathetic to the farming industry. It is time that the clauses were softened in the interest of presentation.
I began to feel that the Minister had learnt that when he kindly sent everyone involved in the Committee stage detailed letters of changes that were to be made, generally showing concern about our debates. However, when one read no fewer than four separate articles in today's edition of The Times showing the draconian measures that the Government were likely to bring in primary legislation to deal with foot and mouth, one began to wonder whether we were going to go through all this again.
In addition, after the Secretary of State's incredible mistake in Paris yesterday, farming came through a bad day according to what one read in the newspapers.
As a Minister, I have been once or twice to the food fair in Paris and I realise how important publicity is, whatever one's view of the food that is put before one. To feel that the best British roast beef was being spurned at that critical moment was a serious lapse.The amendment put forward by the noble Countess is most valuable because it puts a requirement on the Government to think for a moment or two before beginning a slaughter procedure. Clause 1 is all about slaughter, slaughter, slaughter, slaughter! There is not a word about vaccination. After all, the first clause is supposed to be the most important clause in a Bill. Acceptance of the amendment will show to the agricultural industry, the veterinary profession and the general public that before slaughter the Government will spend a few minutes considering whether vaccination is the right policy.
I cannot see what is wrong with that. Why on earth cannot we do it? Whatever the noble Lord, Lord Carter, says about there being umpteen opportunities later in the Bill, Clause 1 is the first which comes to everyone's mind. It is right that the Government should have to pause before they take action to consider whether they should vaccinate or slaughter.
The agricultural industry wants the Government to think for just a moment before taking action. Once they have taken action, nothing can redeem the poor animals which have been slaughtered. Later we will deal with the problems raised in today's newspaper about the valuation, which sounds draconian. So let us have a more sympathetic approach to a most fearful moment in a farmer's life; seeing his stock being slaughtered. I have seen it and believe that we must assure the agricultural industry that the Government will not take that step without thinking about vaccination.
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