Kept Animals Bill

Dear constituent,

Thank you for contacting me about live animal exports and the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill.

I believe in a vision where no animal is made to suffer unnecessary pain and degradation and where we continue to drive up standards and practice in line with the most recent advances and understanding.

I support the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill and its measures to ban the export of livestock from Great Britain for fattening and slaughter, subject to a penalty of imprisonment, fines, or both. This is an issue on which the Opposition has campaigned for a long time, and I know long journeys on which animals suffer are not acceptable to the British people.

The ban will include an exemption for breeding animals, which I support so long as provisions are in place to ensure they are transported under genuinely high welfare standards. I would also support an exemption for livestock transported across the Northern Ireland border.

Although live exports may have declined over the years, I am afraid in recent years we have still seen animals exported, particularly for fattening. What many of those animals experience in being transported for a long time is a real concern, putting them in danger of food and water deprivation, overcrowding, and lack of rest. Exporting animals has always risked their slaughter in conditions that fall below UK standards. Whilst we must ensure the system is put in place properly and is supported by our farming sector, I want to see an end to such exports.

However, the Bill ignores the obvious truth that long journeys in the UK to slaughterhouses also harm animal welfare. Nationwide, the number of local abattoirs has been significantly reduced, meaning many farmers have little choice but to send livestock long distances for slaughter. I want to see the Government commit to working to re-establish local networks of slaughterhouses to end the suffering of animals undertaking extensive journeys within the UK.

The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill underwent its Second Reading on 25 October 2021. It passed this stage and will be scrutinised further in Committee in due course. I will follow developments on this Bill closely.

Thank you once again for contacting me about this issue.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Dowd MP