Hansard

It has been a long afternoon. Some of us have probably exceeded our screen time for the week and it is only Wednesday, so I will be brief.

Scottish Liberal Democrats warmly welcome the passing of the bill. I commend the minister and her officials on steering the bill through; those who gave evidence throughout the process; and, of course, the ECCLR Committee members for their valuable scrutiny work. Of course, the committee can scrutinise only what it has in front of it, and I again question the approach that has been taken by the Greens. Stage 3 is—and always has been—an opportunity to tidy up a bill and not a point at which new proposals are parachuted in, backed by email campaigns. That is not a substitute for evidence gathering and robust scrutiny.

All that said, Scottish Liberal Democrats strongly back the aims and provisions of the bill. At the outset, we were reminded by a number of witnesses that Scotland currently has among the lowest sentences and penalties for animal cruelty anywhere in Europe. As I said during the stage 1 debate, 12 months in prison, a fine and a ban on keeping animals for the worst acts of animal cruelty compare poorly with up to five years’ imprisonment for fly-tipping. That comparison does not reflect well on our justice system and does not reflect public attitudes towards crimes of animal wildlife cruelty. The system was in need of reform.

By increasing the maximum available penalties for cruelty and causing unnecessary suffering to both wild and domestic animals, the bill helps to address that—thanks in no small part to some of the amendments that were agreed to earlier this afternoon. As the Law Society of Scotland made clear, broadening the range of the prosecutorial options that are available is helpful. It also has the effect of potentially increasing police powers in the detection of more serious crimes.

It is to be hoped, however, that the measures in the bill act more as an effective deterrent. It is in all our interests to see a reduction in the number of cases rather than an increase in the prison population. In that context, I commend Claudia Beamish for the work that she has done in pursuing alternative approaches around restorative justice, which not only have the potential to be more effective in reducing reoffending but can also help to avoid compounding the serious problem of prison overcrowding in Scotland.

Claudia Beamish also led much of the effort to extend the use of vicarious liability. Although, ultimately, it has been expanded to include only a small number of practices—including illegal trapping and snaring—that represents an important step forward and, I hope, a way of deterrence.

Finally, I again congratulate Alison Johnstone on her successful amendment on mountain hares. Although I stand by my earlier comments about the Greens’ cavalier approach to parliamentary scrutiny and note that there is much work to do to make those proposals workable in practice, on a personal level, I acknowledge and respect the work that Alison Johnstone has put in on the issue over a prolonged period.

The bill enjoys overwhelming public support and will help to address the number of long-standing shortcomings in the way that animal welfare and cruelty are treated under our legal system. However, as with the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011, it is almost certainly only the latest step, which will be followed by others in due course. For now, the Scottish Liberal Democrats welcome and strongly support the passing of the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Bill.