Oral Answers to Questions

Christine Jardine Excerpts

Thursday 19th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dame Angela Eagle]

I have to say that a study of history demonstrates that collectivising the food system does not usually work.

[Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) (LD)]

9. Whether she plans to increase the level of funding available to agricultural industries.

[The Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs (Dame Angela Eagle)]

Rising input costs, including for fertiliser, have contributed to pressure on many farm businesses in recent years. We continually assess how global cost volatility affects farm productivity and the resilience of the sector.

[Christine Jardine]

Edinburgh West may not seem like the most rural constituency, but we have several critical agricultural businesses in the seat, including the Royal Highland Centre in Ingliston and a number of businesses that are diversifying into agritourism. There is funding available, but it is often unclear how to get it or how to align it for, say, the conversion of buildings. Can the Minister commit to making it clearer how agricultural businesses that want to diversify can access the funding?

[Dame Angela Eagle]

I would love to—if the hon. Lady’s constituency was in England. Agriculture is a devolved matter, and she must therefore ask the Scottish Government.

Fur: Import and Sale

Christine Jardine Excerpts

Tuesday 10th March 2026 Westminster Hall

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Christine Jardine (in the Chair)]

I remind Members that they should bob if they wish to be called in the debate.

Packaging: Extended Producer Responsibility

Christine Jardine Excerpts

Thursday 27th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[Sarah Dyke]

I want to push the Minister on the plight of our struggling hospitality sector. I asked if she could consider exempting pubs from the EPR scheme at this stage to give a chance to review the scheme and help support our struggling hospitality sector.

[Christine Jardine (in the Chair)]

Very briefly, Minister.

[Mary Creagh]

I have to be brief. As I say, we are keeping all our policies under review. The EPR scheme will not be sorted out quickly—it only went live in October, and here we are in November, asking for a big change. We have also heard that businesses need certainty, so I do not want to set any hares running by saying, “This is all going to change next year.” We need to do it in slow time, by consensus and by working with industry. I thank Members for their valuable contributions to the debate; this feedback will genuinely help us to create a fair transition to a circular economy, as we continue with these important reforms and build a world where the UK leads in innovation and sustainability.

Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill

Christine Jardine Excerpts

3rd reading
Friday 4th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dr Chambers]

Alfie and Luna. They are cockapoos —I am sure they keep you very fit. Although our pets, and all the pets of the other hon. Members who are in the Chamber today, are well cared for and have loving homes, that is not the case for all cats and dogs in the UK.

As a vet, I have seen the devastating consequences of puppy smuggling. It is unimaginably cruel to separate puppies and kittens from their mothers at a very young age and then bring them across borders in substandard conditions, where they are sold for maximum profit by unscrupulous traders who prioritise profit over welfare.

[Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) (LD)]

I thank my hon. Friend for introducing this Bill, which I know means a lot to the great number of my constituents who have contacted me. They are particularly concerned about the conditions that puppies are smuggled in, but also that many animals coming into this country illegally bring conditions that we have eradicated here, or have cropped ears and tails. They are very keen to see my hon. Friend’s Bill pass, but can he assure us that more can be done in future to make sure, in particular, that we stamp out those illnesses?

[Dr Chambers]

I very much appreciate that intervention from my hon. Friend. Yes, one important part of this Bill—which I will come on to—is biosecurity. There are a lot of diseases that we do not see in the UK that can affect humans as well, such as rabies and Brucella canis. There are also diseases such as distemper that affect other dogs; we do not see those diseases in the UK, but there is a risk of them coming in and becoming endemic. My partner Emma, who is here today, is an epidemiologist at the University of Surrey, studying diseases such as rabies in dogs and the risk of them transferring across borders. It is a very live issue.

Those who purchase an animal are often completely unaware of the smuggling process, which is devastating. When people go to buy a puppy, they are completely unaware that there is a reasonable chance that it has been smuggled in from abroad.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mike Reader]

It is fantastic to hear about that campaign, and I would fully support it. But there are also positives in the world of pets on social media. I follow an account, Southend Dog Training, which has helped me with free advice to ensure that Dash, my little Chorkie—full name: Dash Potato Evans-Reader—sits, walks and does not lick so many people every time we meet them. He does not come out with me on the doorstep, because while I am trying to talk about serious policy issues, he is more keen to get in the house and explore.

In all seriousness, the Bill is really important. It closes loopholes and stops the shameless exploitation of dogs, cats and ferrets—as I learned from the Clerk as I walked in, ferrets are included in the Bill because of their alignment on rabies categorisation. It is fantastic to see a really well-rounded Bill of this nature. It will stop puppies being stripped from their parents and smuggled into the UK under the age of six months, and it will stop heavily mutated dogs being brought in, as well as heavily pregnant dogs, who just become puppy farms.

I was at a food conference in Northampton yesterday, and when I told people there that I was coming in to Parliament today to talk about puppies, they thought it was a little strange. But I explained the loopholes, and they were not fully aware of what goes on. It is really important that we take this kind of action to close those loopholes.

[Christine Jardine]

First, I must confess that I am feeling increasingly guilty for not having mentioned my cockapoo, Brora, since everybody else is mentioning their pet. She has been a social media star—she posed in a Scotland football strip just before the last championship.

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point about people not being aware and needing reassurance. When we bought Brora five years ago, I remember it being on my mind that we had to be careful, because there are a lot of people selling puppies on the internet, apparently genuinely. I have heard from constituents who bought a puppy, unaware of the puppy trade, and then faced the sorts of issues that my hon. Friend the Member for Winchester (Dr Chambers) mentioned. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it is important that the public take away from this Bill an awareness of those dangers?

[Mike Reader]

I could not agree more. It is critical that we do more in Parliament to raise these issues. I also welcome some of the minor amendments made in Committee, which strengthen the Bill further and will reassure people, particularly in the limited circumstances in which the Bill may have unintended consequences.

It is the story of my life that I am a dog lover and an animal lover. Every time I come home from Parliament, Dash is there waiting for me. Very fortunately, he comes with me when I come down to London, and he comes with me back to Northampton. It makes my life so much better, as you say, to come home, decompress—

Oral Answers to Questions

Christine Jardine Excerpts

Thursday 12th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Steve Reed]

I am pleased to say that I made a joint announcement with the Home Secretary that this will be the first Government to have a cross-departmental rural crime strategy intended to cut the huge impact of rural crime on communities.

[Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) (LD)]

Biodiversity net gain is critical to replacing the loss we are experiencing in our environment and is now mandatory in planning applications—but with exemptions. Those exemptions mean that most developers are avoiding biodiversity net gain, so what will the Government do to tighten up the exemptions and make that more difficult?

[Mary Creagh]

This is a very new policy and has only just come into force, as the hon. Lady will be aware. There are very limited exemptions in place at the moment, such as that on side returns on housing, but we are keeping the issue under active review and I am in discussions with officials about it.