Farmed Animals: Cages and Crates

Tom Hayes Excerpts

Monday 16th June 2025 Westminster Hall

[Tom Hayes (Bournemouth East) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to contribute with you in the Chair, Mr Mundell. My hon. Friend the Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell) introduced this important debate so well. As a nation of animal lovers, we rightly seek the highest welfare standards. We were the first country to create animal protection law, in 1822, and the first country to set up an animal welfare charity, in 1824. I was proud to be elected as the Member of Parliament for Bournemouth East on a manifesto that pledged the most ambitious advancement of animal welfare in a generation.

Today, I reaffirm my commitment to my constituents in Bournemouth East, because the compassion that we show for animals represents who we are as a people. Animal welfare is extremely important. We know that cages and crates cause huge suffering for farm animals. We need action now to end the use of cages and crates for farmed animals because our constituents demand it. I know this issue is of significant interest and importance to my constituents because 190 of them signed the petition and my mailbox has been inundated by constituents getting in touch about this issue. Whether from Hilary on Carbery Avenue, Alison on Windham Road, or Angela on Chigwell Road, there is a call for action. The public in Bournemouth East want us to go further and faster.

It is good news that Ministers are working closely with the farm sector to deliver high standards for food production, animal welfare and environmental concerns. It is good news that when it comes to laying hens we are moving away from the use of enriched colony cages to free-range and barn production, and that Government grants to farmers are supporting that work. We need an urgent and full move away from cages. As we have just heard, 8 million laying hens are unable to flap their wings because they are confined in such small, intolerable spaces.

It is also good news that major supermarkets have pledged to stop selling shell eggs from hens kept in colony cages by the end of this year. That shift will happily quicken the move away from colony cages, with free-range eggs now accounting for over two thirds of the market, but we must go further and faster. Indeed, we may have to: the UK agreed in May to link to EU farm standards, so if the EU brings in a cage ban, the UK would have to reciprocate. We should be mindful of that, as we are already seeing moves in that direction in France and Germany, and the European Commission is interested in that policy area.

Like colleagues who have spoken before me, I am proud to be a Labour Member of Parliament because the last Labour Government provided the most comprehensive reform of animal welfare laws and policies in over a century. I am proud, too, of the Labour manifesto commitments that we made on animal welfare, including proposals to ban trail hunting, end puppy smuggling and puppy farming, ban the use of snare traps, ban the import of animals with fashion mutilations and cropped ears and ban scientific testing on dogs; we had a debate on that subject a few short weeks ago in which the will of MPs of all parties was extraordinarily clear. We also committed to a ban on the import of hunting trophies, which is particularly timely because 2 July will mark a decade since the killing of Cecil the lion. I hope that the House will focus on the issue with renewed sharpness.

I am pleased to see the Government pledge to ratify the high seas treaty, a landmark agreement that will protect marine life in international waters, covering almost two thirds of the ocean, including sharks, whales and sea turtles, which are currently vulnerable to unsustainable and illegal fishing and other extractive industries. This Government are already supporting animals and marine life, are committed to supporting animals over the course of this Parliament, and are building on the work of the last Labour Government in protecting animals. I want to stand alongside our Labour Government with their commitment to introduce their ambitious programme for animal welfare, because all our constituents are calling on us to do better and to do it faster.