Animal Welfare Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
John Howell
Main Page: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)Department Debates - View all John Howell's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Animal Welfare
John Howell Excerpts(7 years ago)
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Zac Goldsmith
I could not agree more with my hon. Friend and I will be making that point in more detail shortly.
The new Bill that was announced at midnight last night will also increase the maximum jail terms for animal abusers from six months to five years. Both of those commitments are enormously welcome. It is great news and I can hardly exaggerate my thanks to the Secretary of State for the breathtaking leadership he has shown since being appointed to his role, but I believe it would be a mistake not to use the opportunity of a new animal welfare Bill to create something truly comprehensive, so I want to make the case for some key areas that I believe should be included and I want to start with farming.
John Howell (Henley) (Con)
Does my hon. Friend agree that preventing people who abuse animals from owning animals is a very good thing to include in the Bill?
Zac Goldsmith
I could not agree more with my hon. Friend and I thank him for making that point.
The Secretary of State has said:
“As we leave the European Union there are opportunities for us to go further and to improve… animal welfare”.
Of course, he is right. For example—this goes to the point my hon. Friend the Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont) was making—as we leave the EU, we will be able to end the live export of animals for slaughter and fattening, which is a grim process for tens of thousands of animals every year. Last year, 3,000 calves were transported from Scotland via Ireland to Spain and over 45,000 sheep were taken from the UK through continental Europe. Under EU single market rules, the UK has not been able to stop that—we have tried, but we have not succeeded. I am thrilled that Ministers have indicated that they are minded to act as soon as we are allowed. If we do, we will be the first European country to do so and will be setting what I hope will become a trend.
Procurement is another area where we can make a relatively easy and significant impact. The Government spend around £2 billion a year on food for schools, hospitals, prisons and military barracks. Currently, that food is required to meet only a very basic standard of animal welfare—basic standards that still leave chickens in tiny cages, pigs in cramped and stressful conditions, cows in sheds all year long and so on.