Contribution
Follow that. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, for his comments. He is right that there is a searing inevitability, having finally disposed of his many amendments, particularly around cycles, in Committee on the Crime and Policing Bill that we should encounter each other the very next day—but it is always a pleasure to debate with him. I am grateful for his gracious comments about the Committee on the Crime and Policing Bill.
Let us turn now to this instrument. I am grateful for the noble Lord’s support. The UKIM Act is there to protect, rightly, the internal market of the United Kingdom, which is vital to every nation within it and plays an integral role in their economies. Today’s debate demonstrates that we are able to respond to requests, such as that from the Scottish Government, to make exemptions. That shows that the current Act works and that we can be flexible, implementing exclusions on a case-by-case basis as appropriate.
The UK Government are determined to continue to lead the way in protecting animal welfare and we will continue to work with the devolved Governments to achieve this. Where there are grounds for divergence, which in this case is primarily about the best way to achieve similar goals, and where that divergence is expected to have minimal economic impact on trade within the UK, we will work together to ensure flexibility where we can.
The noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, asked about the UK Government actively considering banning the sale of glue traps in England. Once a Scottish ban is in effect, a wider ban on sale may become a feasible option for reducing illegal use, should there still be a need, if Ministers wish to bring in further legislation to do this. However, it is not something we are actively pursuing at this time, for two main reasons.
First, licensed pest controllers are still permitted to use these traps when they are necessary for preserving public health and safety. The noble Lord posed a question about the number of licences that have been given. I do not have that number to hand but, to save him the trouble of tabling a Parliamentary Question, I am very happy to follow up and write to him with that detail. Although these circumstances are very limited, they do exist. It is therefore not as straightforward as simply implementing a blanket ban on sale.
Secondly, since the Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022 was passed, market-leading suppliers have been removing glue traps from sale and promoting more humane alternatives instead, giving confidence that the number of these devices deployed across England has been significantly reducing. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs recognises that stopping illegal use does not end simply at the point of passing legislation. The department has reached out to retailers to call attention to the fact that amateur use is now banned and that alternative forms of DIY pest control should be considered instead.
Indeed, to respond to another point the noble Lord made, we are exploring how we can work with online retailers to similarly raise awareness. The Government recognise and appreciate the good work that professionals do to keep the public safe, and we will work closely with them on future changes.
To conclude, I trust that the noble Lord understands and accepts the need for this instrument. It makes an exclusion to the UKIM Act for legislation in respect of glue traps, which means that, where they are produced in or imported into other parts of the UK, they cannot be sold in a country that has banned them, regardless of whether an equivalent ban is in place. Scotland will therefore be able to bring in an effective ban on using and selling them.
I am afraid I have to tell the Committee that I cannot possibly begin to match the poetic oratory with which the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, concluded. However, as we have been discussing throughout the debate, we are ending on a particular Scottish note. Ahead of Burns Night, I will not talk about the variety of mice that the noble Lord mentioned, but I will talk about another beast—my preferred beast, the haggis. In Burns’s “Address to a Haggis”, he rightly calls it:
“Great chieftain of the pudding race!”
I very much hope the noble Lord will be joining many people, including me, on Burns Night on Sunday in a wee dram and a healthy slice of haggis. With that, I beg to move.