Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament am ar 21 Mawrth 2024.
The reality is that Mark Ruskell fails to explain why, when we had stage 2 and stage 3 amendments, he took the whip from Edward Mountain more than he listened to the animal welfare charities. Dozens of amendments were lodged, and Mr Ruskell voted against every one of them. [
Interruption
.] He thinks that it is amusing that we cannot have the improvements to the bill that could have been achieved if his party had stuck to its policies and principles.
I thank those who stuck to their principles and campaigned for reform for so long, including the Revive coalition members—OneKind, League Against Cruel Sports, Raptor Persecution UK, Common Weal, Friends of the Earth—and charities such as RSPB, the SSPCA and Scottish Badgers. It was their tenacity, persistence and determination that led to the bill in the first place. It is a bill that will end the cruelty of snaring; call time on the barbaric use of glue traps; properly utilise the immense skills, professionalism and experience of the SSPCA in the battle against wildlife crime; and pave the way for the long-overdue licensing of traps and of muirburn on our grouse moors.
I am sorry that we did not succeed in making the bill stronger, and it will remain a mystery to me as to why Green and SNP MSPs joined the Tories to block even modest improvements, such as the recording of the numbers and species killed, to improve our understanding of species biodiversity. We also have to be honest that the bill will not end the mass killing of one animal to protect another solely for the purpose of subsequently killing that animal for sport—the “circle of destruction” that Revive described.
I also thank those who will feel that the bill goes too far. Groups such as BASC, the Scottish Gamekeepers Association and Scottish Land & Estates suggested a number of constructive changes to improve the workings of the bill, and we backed some of those changes.
I know that, with their skills and experience, it will be our land managers, gamekeepers and others who work the land who will implement the legislation and continue to manage and protect our countryside. They have absolutely nothing to fear from the bill and what is a modest, overdue licensing scheme that will protect the innocent and start to rid the grouse moor industry of the minority that brings it into disrepute.