12. Debate: Stage 4 on the Wild Animals and Circuses (Wales) Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:52 pm on 15 July 2020.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Andrew RT Davies Andrew RT Davies Conservative 3:52, 15 July 2020

Minister, thank you for your opening statement on the Stage 4 proceedings. As Welsh Conservatives, we're pleased to support the Bill's progress into law. It is a fact, though, that, sadly, Wales is the last part of the United Kingdom to bring this legislation into action, and instead of leading on this, we've been following what, as you highlighted in your remarks, Scotland and England have already done. But, hopefully, with those 6,000 responses, people will have confidence now that the legislation that will come into force once Royal Assent is achieved will protect wild animals from travelling with circuses across the whole of the United Kingdom.

I'd like to put on record my thanks to the staff of the committee and to the witnesses who came before us on both sides of the debate and provided us with such excellent evidence, and in particular the staff who provided such quality research for us to deliberate in this particular area. I do think the Bill could have been strengthened if the amendments that we tabled around training and suitably qualified people taking tests and samples from any animals where there's a dispute had been incorporated within the finished piece of legislation, but I respect the Minister's position, and it's her right to either accept those amendments or not.

We must remember that this Bill will only affect about 19 animals in total, which currently travel with two particular circuses, but that's not to say that if this Bill hadn't been put in place there wouldn't have been a greater number of animals suffering through touring as well with circuses. So, it's important that enforcement measures are put in place to make sure that local authorities feel confident that should, in the future, they need to deploy this legislation, they can, and effectively deploy it. I look forward to the Bill going to the vote and, ultimately, receiving Royal Assent in August.