During my 13 years as an MP, some of the most popular campaigns residents contact me about are ones relating to animal welfare – the love people have for animals and the passion they have for ensuring their welfare is very clear to see.
As an MP I have worked with several different organisations to support campaigns on a variety of animal welfare issues.
One campaign I have consistently supported is for an end to the cruel practice of puppy farming and puppy smuggling. For nearly a decade I have worked alongside organisations such as Dogs Trust, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, the Kennel Club, and Pup Aid to highlight and call for an end to this cruel practice. This included hosting Parliamentary events, supporting debates, and raising Parliamentary Questions to highlight the respective campaigns.
I have also supported the successful campaigns to end the Ivory trade, the banning of the use of wild animals in circuses and stopping the import of Foie Gras post-Brexit.
In 2021, the Government announced its Action Plan for Animal Welfare, setting out several reforms which would improve animal welfare. Since then, the Government has brought forward tougher sentences for cruelty, and increased maximum sentences; banned electric shock collars for dogs; increased protections for service animals such as police dogs; and protected marine wildlife by tackling plastic pollution. This work has seen the UK become world leader when it comes to animal welfare standards, and we are now joint top of the World Animal Protection’s Animal Protection Index.
For farm animals, we have introduced new statutory welfare codes for pigs, laying hens and meat chickens, banned the use of conventional battery cages for laying hens and made CCTV mandatory in slaughterhouses.
Building on this work, the Government has introduced its Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill, which we will be seeking to pass next week. This will fulfil the Government’s commitment pledge to ban the export of live animals including cattle, sheep, and pigs.
The Bill makes it an offence to export livestock and horses for slaughter and fattening - ending long, crowded journeys, which cause unnecessary mental exhaustion, physical injury, dehydration, and stress to the animals. It will also ensure that animals are slaughtered in the UK under the high welfare standards expected of UK slaughterhouses.
The Bill is just one part of a wider Government effort to enhance our existing world-leading standards.
It is one area of Parliamentary business where there is normally strong cross-party support which has helped speed up the delivery of new powers and enforcement in these key areas. I would certainly expect this will be the case again next week with this Bill.
Many of the new powers are only possible with our greater legal freedoms post Brexit and it is right we have made the most of these opportunities.
I am very proud if the work the Government has done on the important issue of animal welfare and whilst Parliament doesn’t always deliver, this is an area where all MP’s can be proud of their contributions.
