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

To ask His Majesty's Government how the objectives set out in the Animal welfare strategy for England, published on 22 December 2025, will be applied to religious slaughter practices.

The strategy sets out the Government's ambitious reforms on animal welfare which will improve the lives of millions of animals across the UK. There are no commitments in the strategy that address religious slaughter practices specifically.

The Government encourages the highest standards of animal welfare at slaughter. All animals must be stunned before slaughter to make them unconscious and insensible to pain. The only exception to this is when animals are slaughtered in accordance with religious rites, for the food of Muslims and Jews. The Government would prefer all animals to be stunned before slaughter but respects the rights of Jews and Muslims to eat meat prepared in accordance with their religious beliefs.