Animals Act 1971 (Amendment) Bill

I am sure that the hon. Lady, who is not a regular attender on a Friday—[Hon. Members: ““Oh.””] Well, if the House sits on a Friday, I believe that people should come. I come, and my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing, North comes regularly, to debate such matters. I am sure that the hon. Lady would not expect a public Bill to advance to Committee, if that is the will of the House, without receiving effective and proper scrutiny. It was her choice, of course, to timetable her Bill to come after this one. If she had thought about it, she might have picked a different day, when it might have been taken earlier. It would be an unfortunate parliamentary precedent if we were to eschew proper scrutiny of this Bill in order to get on to her Bill.