§ Sir Brian MawhinneyTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) when the right hon. Member for North-West Cambridgeshire can expect a reply to his letter of 16 December on behalf of Mrs. Stables; [26373]
(2) when the right hon. Member for North-West Cambridgeshire can expect a reply to his letter of 16 December on behalf of Mr. Williamson. [26377]
§ Mr. MorleyThese letters—and a number of others I have received from right hon. and hon. Members—ask about the Government's attitude to near-identical private Member's and private Peer's Bills which have been introduced with the aim, inter alia, of banning the tail docking of piglets. The Government's attitude to such a measure was made clear in a debate in the House of Lords on 26 January: I am therefore now in a position to reply to the right hon. Gentlemen's two letters of 16 December and to the other letters we have received on the subject.