PASSPORTS FOR HORSES

That this House notes that the Government is pressing ahead with its plans for compulsory passports for all horses, donkeys, mules, zebra and other equidae even though this will add to the cost and bureaucracy of owning a horse, without improving animal welfare; notes that passports, including vets fees, would cost up to ú100 and that owners without passports will be liable to fines of ú5,000 or six months in prison; further notes that passports are only necessary because of continential European concerns about equine drugs entering the human food chain and despairs that the Government failed to oppose the EU decision and then gold plated it; further notes that the consultation process carried out by the Government was flawed and that many owners of the UK's 850,000 horses are unaware of the Government's draconian plans; calls on the Government to introduce a voluntary scheme where only horses destined for the human food chain require passports or, better still seek a derogation from the EU decision on the basis that very few British horses enter the human food chain and that the British do not eat horsemeat; and urges that an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, praying that the Horse Passports (England) Regulations 2003 (S.I., 2003, No. 2780), dated 4th November 2003, a copy of which was laid before this House on 4th November, be annulled.