Environment, Food and Agriculture Minister Geoffrey Boot came under renewed fire for his handling of the ditched Animal Welfare Bill last week.

The House of Keys threw out the bill - which aimed to give protection to kept and companion animals - branding it ’half-hearted’ and complaining that the results of a consultation on the bill had yet to be published.

The consultation results were published three days after the bill was rejected, which would have been ahead of the detailed scrutiny of the clauses stage.

In Tynwald, former policy and reform minister Chris Thomas (Douglas Central), who has become one of government’s most outspoken critics, accused Mr Boot of ’handling the legislation so badly, such that the House of Keys had to vote it down, rather than even adjourning the debate so that it could come back with clarity from the minister about the actual facts behind the progress that had not actually been made’.

Mr Boot insisted he had been keen to progress the legislation.

’I think in retrospect there was some what we might call buyers’ regret,’ he said. ’But that is the situation. I do not apologise for bringing the legislation forward and I do not think it was handled badly.’

In response to an earlier question from Lawrie Hooper (LibVannin, Ramsey), Mr Boot confirmed it would be for the next administration to bring forward a revised ’more comprehensive’ law.

However, he added: ’Policy changes proposed in the United Kingdom in relation to kept animals and animals abroad, which my department has been included in discussions on, will require implementation of new legislation in the island to ensure facilitation of unfettered access for trading purposes in respect of animal welfare and movements.’

Although it would have been preferable to include the changes in the proposed bill, they could be implemented via secondary legislation, when specific orders are brought before Tynwald for approval, which is much quicker than the full legislative process.