Easter Adjournment

Alex Mayer Excerpts

Tuesday 8th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Alex Mayer (Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard) (Lab)]

With Easter approaching, thoughts often turn to eggs. My favourites are Cadbury Creme Eggs or possibly Smarties ones, but the eggs that I want to talk about this afternoon are those that chickens produce, and which are sold in our supermarkets.

Although the majority of whole eggs sold in UK supermarkets are now from cage-free environments, shockingly, one in five hens still spends its life cramped in a cage. When battery cages were banned, in many places, so-called enriched cages were introduced to replace them. I have to say, however, that the word “enriched” is a bit of a misnomer. Yes, they are slightly better than the traditional battery cage—for example, they have to have a perch—but I think “enriched” makes it sound a bit like they are on a yoga retreat or something. The marketing people absolutely earned their wages that day. The reality is absolutely nothing of the sort. “Confinement cages” might be a better description; they are smaller than a piece of A4 paper and have minimal room for birds to spread their wings. They restrict natural behaviour; hens cannot properly dust-bathe or forage, and are all subject to frustration and stress.

I welcome the £22-million fund from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to transition to higher welfare standards for hens. However, I also worry about low-welfare imports that undercut our UK farmers, especially of powdered and liquid eggs, which are often found in products such as a quiche or a hot cross bun at this time of year, and which often come from countries with lower animal welfare standards.

Turning back to shell eggs, if hon. Members buy a dozen eggs and plan to tuck into a soft-boiled egg this Easter, I urge them to check where the eggs come from. They all have a code printed on their shell, and the first character will tell them where they are from. If the character is a three, it means that the bird was caged. Anyone can choose to vote with their feet, support our hen heroes, and make an eggs-traordinary difference.

Sticking briefly with the Easter theme, as the Easter getaway approaches, I want to give a shout-out to the UK coach sector, which is often the unsung hero of holiday travel. Every year, 23 million people travel by coach to visit attractions, attend events and explore our regions. Coach passengers spend £8.3 billion annually in local economies, supporting hotels, restaurants and tourism attractions. Given the climate emergency, it is important to note that a single coach can remove up to 50 cars from the road, cutting congestion and emissions. I hope that Ministers in the Department for Transport will consider some of the things that the coach industry is asking for, such as being able to use bus lanes by default, more robust data from transport authorities on the coach sector, more drop-off, pick-up and parking facilities, and allowing the coach sector funding similar to the zero emission bus regional area funding we have had for the bus sector. It is, after all, a cracking industry.

I would like to say, in my remaining 30 seconds, that I think this will be a particularly good Easter, because the clocks have already changed, so we have plenty of daylight to celebrate it in. I end by wishing you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and all hon. Members a very happy Easter.