Lord Trees (CB)

My Lords, it has been a great privilege to bring forward this Bill, which seeks to prevent the illegal and low-welfare movement of pets into the UK. At Second Reading I remarked that I hoped it would be third time lucky for this Bill, and today I am thrilled to present it for its third and last reading before it makes its way on to the statute book. It has been a privilege to play a part in advancing this legislation, which will strengthen protection for animals so dear to so many of us. However, the milestone is not mine alone, of course. The progress of the Bill has been a truly collaborative endeavour, and I express my sincere gratitude to those who have contributed to its journey. It is a particular pleasure to thank Dr Danny Chambers from the other place, because I had the pleasure and privilege of teaching him when he was a veterinary undergraduate at the University of Liverpool. You know you are getting old when your former students become MPs. I thank the Minister, the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, and her team at Defra for the great work they have done in supporting the Bill. I am very grateful to fellow Peers who supported us so well at Second Reading; I am assured that the points they made then will be considered by the Government in developing the Bill further through secondary legislation. Finally, I thank various organisations, including the British Veterinary Association, the RSPCA, the Dogs Trust, Battersea and others, which have long lobbied for the measures encompassed in this legislation. When quarantine was replaced by rabies vaccinations in 2000, there were fewer than 8,000 dogs moving non-commercially into the UK; by 2024, there were 368,000 dogs moving. Many of them were not day trippers but one-way trippers: illegally imported dogs that were poorly bred, poorly kept, unsocialised and vulnerable to ill health. In 2025, the PDSA estimated that 21,000 dogs were imported with cropped ears, a mutilation that is illegal in this country. In 2023, Cats Protection estimated that 65,000 cats had been imported, many of which had been declawed—another illegal process in the UK. This Bill will bring these practices to an end. It closes a loophole in pet travel rules that have been exploited for profit and introduces a proportionate limit on the number of pets that can be brought in during a single non-commercial movement. It makes it harder for unscrupulous individuals to abuse the system. The Bill also grants the Government powers to introduce secondary legislation to restrict low-welfare imports, by prohibiting the import of puppies and kittens under six months of age and restricting the import of heavily pregnant animals and of pets that have been subject to mutilation, such as ear cropping in dogs and declawing in cats. I welcome the Government’s assurances that they intend to work with stakeholders to consider appropriate exemptions to these restrictions as these regulations are further developed. I echo the Government’s words of caution that any exemptions must be extremely selective and must not allow the creation of loopholes that could be exploited. The Bill is a testament to what we can achieve when we work together across this House. I know that noble Lords will support its passage and help us take this important step forward to ending pet smuggling and improving the welfare of pets brought into the United Kingdom. I beg to move.