§ 11.4 a.m.
§ Mr. Doug Hoyle (Nelson and Colne)With your permission, Mr. Speaker, and that of the House, I beg to present a petition on behalf of the members of my constituency of Nelson and Colne who have shown a very great concern about the suffering of animals in laboratory experiments. The petition has been signed by 2,775 people. I should certainly like to thank Mrs. Victoria Buck and her helpers for all the work that they have done in organising it.
The petition reads as follows:
To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled.The Humble Petition of members of the constituency of Nelson and Colne and supporters of the aims of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to reduce animal usage and suffering in animal experimentation sheweth that much unnecessary pain and distress is caused to laboratory animals and that they do not receive adequate protection under the present administration of the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876.Wherefore your Petitioners pray that your Honourable House will amend the existing law or introduce new legislation in order to bring about the recommendations of the Littlewood Committee of 1965, the proposals incorporated in the Howden-Platt memorandum to the Home Secretary in 1976 and the recent proposals from the Committee for the Reform of Animal Experimentation 1977 with regard to the workings of the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876.And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will every pray.
§ To lie upon the Table.