Labour has today called for the Government to take action
on animal cruelty, with fears that there has been spike due to
the lockdown.
Shadow Environment Secretary, Luke Pollard, has written to
the Environment Secretary, to pressure the Government to
deliver on a long-awaited increase of sentences for those found
convicted of animal cruelty.
The RSPCA reported at the end of April that, since the
Government announced the lockdown on Monday 23 March, their
animal rescuers had already dealt with 21,137 incidents of animal
cruelty and suffering animals which needed help.
Due to Parliament sitting for fewer days because of the
Coronavirus there is a real risk that the Private Members Bill
that would increase prison sentences from the current six months
to five years will fall. This is because there are not enough
sitting days that will consider private members bills between now
and the expected Queen’s Speech in the autumn. Luke Pollard has
asked the Government to take control of the existing Private
Member’s Bill and adopt it as a Government Bill, to make sure it
becomes law.
, Labour’s Shadow
Environment Secretary, said:
“Increasing prison sentences for animal cruelty enjoys
strong cross-party support but this bill has been delayed and
delayed again. With the lockdown making this measure
urgent, we are calling on the Government to ensure this
measure becomes law urgently.
“We cannot have more dither and delay – it is our duty to
make sure all pets are protected and the Government must act now
or more animals will suffer.”
Ends
Notes to editors
· The
current maximum penalty does not reflect the serious offences
that we see in the animal cruelty world. The maximum sentence for
any form of animal abuse is just six months’ custody, which has
not changed since the Protection of Animals Act 1911.
· The
Animal Cruelty (Sentencing) Bill was introduced in July 2016, by
the then Labour MP for Redcar . The Government then committed
in September 2017 to increasing maximum sentences for animal
cruelty offences and published a draft Bill for pre-legislative
scrutiny in December 2017. Eventually, with Labour support the
Government’s first Bill was passed unamended in Committee in July
2019 and was scheduled for Report Stage in the Commons on 4
September 2019, but then fell at the end of the 2017-2109
parliamentary session. Following the Queen’s Speech, the second
Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill was scheduled for Second Reading
on 29 October 2019 until Parliament was then dissolved. The
current Private Member’s Bill was introduced by but is not scheduled for
Second Reading until September 2020 which risks falling due to
the end of the Parliamentary session that is expected in the
Autumn.
