MPs Back Ban On Wild Animals In Circuses

MPs have backed a call for a ban on wild animals in circuses from July next year, after a double climbdown by the Government that will lead to accusations of yet another U-turn.

Faced with a humiliating Commons defeat, ministers first granted Conservative MPs a free vote once the debate was already underway and then failed to force a vote on the motion at the end of the debate.

So despite claiming a vote for a ban would lead to legal challenges from circus owners, the Government is now under enormous pressure to introduce a ban.

A highly-charged two-hour debate began with a blistering attack on the Prime Minister by the proposer of the motion, Conservative MP Mark Pritchard.

"I was offered incentive and reward on Monday, then it was ratcheted up last night when I was threatened," he told MPs.

"I had a call from the Prime Minister's office directly and I was told that unless I withdraw this motion, that the Prime Minister himself said he would look upon it very dimly indeed.

"I may just be a little council house lad from a very poor background, but that background gives me a backbone, it gives me a thick skin, and I am not going to be kow-towed by the whips or even the Prime Minister of our country on an issue I feel passionately about and that I have conviction about."

Mr Pritchard said it was a mystery why the Government was opposing a ban on the use of wild animals in circuses.

There are currently three travelling circuses in the UK, with a total of 39 wild animals, including zebras, lions, tigers and camels, according to Mr Pritchard.

Although most MPs speaking in the debate backed the call for a ban, Tory MP Andrew Rosindell was jeered by backbenchers across the House as he declared there was "almost no cruelty" against animals in circuses.

"We in this House have a duty and responsibility to make decisions based on facts, knowledge and the science for any issue relating to animal welfare," he said.

Mr Pritchard's all-party motion, which called for the introduction of "regulation banning the use of all wild animals in circuses" from July 2012, was seconded by Labour's Jim Fitzpatrick and the Liberal Democrat MP Bob Russell.

Opposing the call for a ban, Agriculture Minister Jim Paice said he shared the views of MPs concerned about the use of performing animals, but said there could be legal challenges to a ban as proposed by Mr Pritchard.

"The reality is that the Animal Welfare Act of 2006, Section 12, does not allow ethical considerations to be a justification for a ban," he said.

But he added: "The Government is determined to stamp out cruelty and bad welfare for animals in circuses."