Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether under the terms of the 6 July 2018 statement of the Government and its reference to a common rulebook the UK will be able to ban live animal exports for slaughter from January 2021 without there being consequences for trade.

The Government’s proposal for a common rulebook on goods only relates to those technical and product safety rules necessary to provide for a frictionless border. The proposal does not extend to wider single market legislation nor animal welfare and would not fetter our abilities to restrict or ban live animal exports.

The White Paper published on 12 July 2018 explains: “By being outside the CAP, and having a common rulebook that only applies to rules that must be checked at the border, the UK would be able to have control over new future subsidy arrangements, control over market surveillance of domestic policy arrangements, an ability to change tariffs and quotas in the future, and the freedom to apply higher animal welfare standards that would not have a bearing on the functioning of the free trade area for goods – such as welfare in transport and the treatment of live animal exports.”