§ 11.3 pm
§ Mr. Tony Banks (Newham, North-West)I should like to present a petition signed by over 114,000 citizens, protesting at the barbaric so-called sport of hare coursing. Live hare coursing takes place between September and March every year, and it is staged purely for entertainment. People who take pleasure from watching a harmless live animal ripped to pieces by dogs have to be sick in the head. The hare is not a pest. It does not threaten farmers or other creatures. Hare coursing comes in the same barbaric category as dog fighting, badger baiting, cock fighting, and so on. I am pleased to tell the 114,000 signatories to the petition, organised by the League Against Cruel Sport, and the followers of this organised torture against hares, that when Labour wins the general election, we shall introduce legislation that will banish hare coursing from our country.
§ To lie upon the Table.