Animal Welfare in Farming

Sam Carling Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd June 2025 Westminster Hall

[Sam Carling (North West Cambridgeshire) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I want to focus on import standards, which the hon. Member for Waveney Valley (Adrian Ramsay) began to talk about.

Farmers in my constituency of North West Cambridgeshire play by the rules and abide by the regulations. For example, since 1999 they have stopped using sow stalls because UK law rightly declared those cramped conditions cruel. But every day, when my constituents go to local supermarkets, the shelves are stocked with bacon from overseas farms that still use those banned methods. I think everyone agrees that that is unfair both for animal welfare and for our farmers.

The recent weeks have been historic for British trade. The Government secured groundbreaking agreements that will boost our economy while, crucially, remaining firm on our higher food standards. When we negotiated with the US, we held the line on hormone-treated beef, delivering on our manifesto promise to protect farmers and consumers alike. This is Labour in action, proving we can expand trade without compromising our values.

We now need to address the inconsistency still visible on supermarket shelves across Britain. Nearly 50% of pork imports come from countries where pregnant pigs remain confined in narrow sow stalls, unable even to turn around. Lamb imports from Australia, where farmers practise mulesing—cutting skin from live sheep without pain relief—have surged following the Conservatives’ flawed trade deal. Such practices were banned here because they do not align with British values or public opinion.

British farmers follow our welfare regulations—no battery cages, no sow stalls and humane transport conditions—yet we continue to allow imports that undermine those standards. Instead of preventing cruelty to farmed animals, the effect of many of our laws is to simply offshore that cruelty to other countries, sometimes those with standards far lower than our own. Imports should meet our domestic animal welfare standards. If certain practices are too cruel for our farms, they should also be too cruel for our borders.

We already have a precedent for this approach—for example, current UK legislation requires that all meat imports comply with our slaughter standards. We now need to extend that principle to how animals are kept throughout their lives, not just how they are killed. That would mean legislation requiring that imported animal products meet UK standards on key welfare issues, which means no eggs from barren battery cages, no pork from farms using sow stalls and no lamb from farms practising live lamb cutting.

The European Union is already moving in that direction, with proposals to end caged farming by 2027 and extend that rule to imports. Aligning our policies would improve our trade relationship with our largest partner, further benefiting British farmers. That change would directly improve animal welfare, aligning both with our values and with public demands. For our farmers, it would right a wrong, preventing grossly unfair competition from low-welfare imports and allowing British producers to uphold higher standards while remaining competitive. That would also complement the £5 billion support package we have already delivered in that space.

That is also what the British public want: recent polling has shown that around 84% of people, including a significant backing among rural communities, support applying our animal welfare standards to all imports. The policy is not controversial at all, and it is fair for farmers, animals and people. It builds on the trade successes that we have already achieved while closing a loophole that undermines our farmers and our values.

Alongside our trade successes, it is time to show that our approach to trade is both principled and practical. We can grow our economy while standing firm on the standards that matter to British people. I hope that the Government will consider some legislative interventions on this issue.

Rural Affairs

Sam Carling Excerpts

Monday 11th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Sam Carling (North West Cambridgeshire) (Lab)]

Some 81% of the land in the area that I represent is agricultural, meaning that North West Cambridgeshire, like much of the east of England, contributes a great deal to our country’s food security. As the Government have repeatedly and rightly said, food security is national security, and I am proud that my constituents play a huge role in that.

Farmers suffered under the last Government. Just before the general election, farmer confidence was at its lowest level since records began, but this Government are taking positive steps to reverse that trend. The farming budget for 2025-26 will be £2.4 billion, which is the biggest budget ever directed at sustainable food production, and will be vital for farmers across the country and in my constituency.

For those affected by flooding last year, I welcome the immediate £60 million made available from the farming recovery fund, which is a big increase compared with the figure under the last Government. I was also glad to hear the Secretary of State clarify earlier that the “vast majority” of farmers will not be affected by the change to agricultural property relief, and his assurances that the Government will protect family farms by preventing people coming from outside and buying farmland over the heads of local people to evade taxes.

One of the most pressing and significant issues that farmers have raised with me is the income of food producers. The dynamic between buyers and producers needs reform, with many producers reporting that they take under 1% of profit after retailers and intermediaries have taken their cut. With more than 95% of our food sold through just 10 retailers, many feel that some supermarkets are not giving them a fair deal. I strongly encourage the Government to look at that issue.

I also welcome the Secretary of State’s earlier comments about ensuring that trade deals do not undermine our farmers. For too long, we have allowed imports of food, both plant and animal products, that has been produced to lower standards than we expect of our farmers. That undermines them and tilts the playing field towards imported food because it prevents them competing on price. We must take action on that.

I now turn to rural crime. Many of our country’s rural towns have significant problems with crime, with a lower police presence following cuts under the last Conservative Government and an under-resourced justice system that has not been able to cope. My constituency has several rural towns and villages, including Ramsey, which has faced a string of robberies and knife-related incidents in recent years. Although the offenders in many of those incidents have been arrested and charged—I thank Cambridgeshire police for that—we must resource our police to restore their ability to work on prevention, not just to respond to crises.

The Government stood on a clear pledge to combat crime in our towns by bringing back neighbourhood and community policing with thousands of additional officers. Rural towns such as Ramsey must get their fair share of that, and I know that the Government are hearing that message.

Transport is also a significant issue, with limited public transport options in Ramsey and other towns. People living in rural areas often have fewer options for services, including education, employment and health services, and those who rely on public transport, which can be limited and inconvenient, are at a double disadvantage. Timetabling decisions based on commercial factors mean that children who live in rural areas in my constituency struggle to get to school, particularly in the village of Wittering.

[Ben Obese-Jecty]

Buses in Cambridgeshire are controlled by the combined authority and its Labour Mayor. Will the hon. Member, whose constituency neighbours mine, put pressure on Mayor Johnson to ensure that all our rural communities are included in the bus franchising and that we get the services that are desperately needed? As the hon. Member has pointed out, the Mayor is failing in that respect so far.

[Sam Carling]

I thank the hon. Member for his intervention. He claims that bus services are under the control of the combined authority, but the problem is that we do not have franchising yet. We are working on that and, in case any of my constituents are listening, the consultation is still open but will close on 20 November, so please fill it in—I just wanted to get that plug in.

In the lead-up to franchising, which will hopefully come through, the combined authority is already working to subsidise essential services and working with commercial companies to tackle the issues. I am confident in the work that we are doing. I am proud that the Government’s better buses Bill will deliver the opportunity for franchising to more local authorities. I urge the Government to keep making progress on making franchising easier, alongside their progress on nationalising our rail infrastructure, which we heard more about earlier.

Broadband connectivity must be another priority. Internet and mobile phone coverage has improved, but the service for people living in rural areas still has a long way to go. As of January, 47% of rural premises had access to gigabit-capable broadband, compared with 84% of premises in urban areas. That has serious implications for productivity, making it harder for people to work from home who would otherwise do so, for example. More widely, it has an impact on the ability to stay in contact with friends and loved ones who may be further afield.

I thank all hon. Members across the House for raising so many points today. I look forward to the Minister’s response.

Budget: Implications for Farming Communities

Sam Carling Excerpts

Monday 4th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Daniel Zeichner]

I remember those awful times very well. “Money is no object” is not something that was said by my party, I can tell her; it was said by the now Opposition, and perhaps it was not exactly the right way to put it. Extreme weather events are a challenge for all of us across the country. My colleagues and I will work with everyone to find the best ways to resolve them, but let us not for one moment imagine that this is a simple issue to solve. The flooding challenges are very real and we are working on them. I look forward to further discussions with the hon. Lady.

[Sam Carling (North West Cambridgeshire) (Lab)]

The Minister knows lots of farmers in my constituency—he is a near neighbour of mine—and farmers are grateful for his engagement with them. He knows that farmers’ incomes fell year on year under the Conservative Government. Will he outline what measures there are in this Budget to support farmers in North West Cambridgeshire and help the industry to get back on track?

[Daniel Zeichner]

I thank my hon. Friend, who is another of my near neighbours. I did not use to have many near neighbours who were anywhere near as friendly as my new near neighbours, but Cambridgeshire has changed. Cambridgeshire has changed for a very clear reason: Cambridgeshire lost trust in the Conservative party. I am determined to build trust across the entire country by maintaining, over a prolonged period, the levels of support necessary to allow people to farm successfully. My answer to my hon. Friend is to look at the Budget, where we saw an increase in the farming budget. We will look to maintain proper support into the future because, exactly as has been said, these are long-term businesses and long-term interests. The reason that they are long-term is that we are all going to need to eat.