PERHAPS it was a poor attempt at an April Fool's joke, but Michael Gray's claim that the Labour Government has done nothing for animals was extraordinary, Letters, April 1.

Labour has banned fox and stag hunting and hare coursing. It has ended fur farming, using animals for the testing of cosmetics and docking dogs' tails for cosmetic reasons. Only last week, we ended the use of wild animals in travelling circuses.

When I was animal welfare minister, I had the privilege of taking the historic Animal Welfare Bill through Parliament. It was described at the time by the RSPCA as "the most important animal protection law for a century."

We have also taken a lead internationally, successfully fighting attempts to overturn the moratorium on hunting whales and on seal clubbing.

Regarding the use of animals for medical research, Britain has among the strictest rules anywhere in the world.

Animals are only used where there is no alternative and we are dealing here with vital advances in human and veterinary medicine from which both humans and animals have benefited enormously.

Ben Bradshaw MP

House of Commons. London