Defra’s pledge to end live exports effectively scrapped as bill dropped
The government’s pledge to end live exports – which was a key part of its Action Plan for Animal Welfare – has been effectively scrapped.
Farming minister Mark Spencer has announced in the House of Commons that the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals Bill) will be dropped.
Instead, key aspects of the bill will be introduced separately as individual measures.
The bill was set to legislate to end all live exports from Britain of cattle, sheep and pigs for fattening and slaughter – a manifesto commitment of the government.
Legislation on important welfare issues like sheep worrying will also be delayed.
In 2021, Defra said it was ‘committed’ to improving the UK’s ‘already world-leading standards’ by delivering animal health and welfare reforms.
On live exports, the department said the practice caused farm animals to experience ‘distress and injury’ due to ‘excessively long journeys during export’.
“We will become the first European country to end this practice,” Defra explained in June 2021, when the bill was unveiled.
“EU rules prevented any changes to these journeys, but the UK government is now free to pursue plans which would see a ban on the export of live animals for slaughter and fattening.”
But farming groups warned that any significant regulatory changes could potentially have a major impact on the UK food supply chain.
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by Farming UK
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