Animals Act 1971 (Amendment) Bill

If the hon. Member for Hendon is arguing that my Bill undoes a higher level of protection that Mirvahedy has given to all victims in cases of this kind, he is wrong. The Mirvahedy judgment did not settle the issue, as we saw in the Court of Appeal last week. What that case did, as has been said time and again by numerous parties representing both victims and animal-owning interests, was muddy the waters further. We need to clarify the circumstances in which strict liability applies and those in which it does not, and I think that my Bill helps us to do that.