The issue around the export of live animals has been contentious for
some time and with clear evidence of failings within the current system more
must be done.
I was delighted to open the Westminster Hall debate on this very issue
following the petition on this matter.
I eagerly await the day we leave the EU as from then onwards we will be
free to bring in our own legislation on this and all manner of matters. BREXIT
will benefit the nation and animal welfare too.
Here is the speech I made during the debate:
'Mr Chairman, thank you and may I open by thanking the
petition proposer, Janet Darlison, who has shown a tireless devotion in
pursuing the issues around animal welfare (destined for export) over very many
years. She together with her husband and supporters and many others too, have
by their consistent efforts raised public awareness to the extent that their
petition has received such staunch support and thus the debate today. So, our
thanks to her and as I say many others. It is also very good to see that she
and her husband have been able to join us today for this debate.
As I reviewed the many documents received from interested
parties with their varying views, a clear theme emerged: that everything we
debate today is subject to EU legislation and that any changes will have to
wait until post BREXIT. What an appalling state of affairs. How can we
ever have found ourselves in a situation whereby the review of the
wellbeing of animals is bogged down and hindered in the bureaucracy of The
European Union? We are not free to act. If I needed further incentive or
evidence (and I don’t!) that BREXIT is critical to the wellbeing of the Country
– as well as animals – then it is here in abundance. It is worth noting our UK
animal welfare standards are amongst the highest in the World. From farm to
fork, our farmers care and so do the majority of the nation. If only the EU
could match our welfare standards in terms of the reality of what happens as
opposed to what should happen. Too frequently they don’t. Further, once live
animals leave our shores we have justifiably grave concerns that the care,
devotion and dedication that our farmers employ, is not always reflected on the
Continent, as live animals make their onward journey. Nor that transit animals
are routinely treated in such a way as to comply with EU regulations – which in
themselves often fall short of our own standards. The UK needs rescuing from
the mire of this misjudged fudgery – and so do our animals. BREXIT beckons and
it really cannot come soon enough.
The Government made
this Manifesto commitment: “As we leave the European Union, we can take early
steps to control the export of live farm animals for slaughter.” Can I say from
the outset that I endorse this proposition?
With the manifesto
commitment, now this timely petition and with the Rt. Hon. Member for Chipping
Barnets' Private Members Bill (regarding banning live exports) which was
scheduled for debate for Friday 2nd February (but not debated in the
House) there is a ground swell of opinion as never before in favour of a ban.
The Rt. Hon. Member for Chipping Barnet, in securing her Private Members Bill
in September 2017, made these points: Live transport of animals is regulated by
the EU, but once animals leave the UK, enforcement is patchy. Cases have
occurred where animals suffer from exhaustion and dehydration, in transit for
days, suffering extremes of temperature and without sufficient food, water or
rest. She added at a rally in Parliament square “… Successive governments have
been powerless to act because EU rules prevented them from imposing a ban. When
we leave the EU, Parliament will have the power to ban live exports...”
This is powerful and well argued. I can find no good or valid reason why
this type of export should continue. It seems a reasonable proposition to me
that animals should be slaughtered as close to where they were raised as is
practicable. The carcasses, can then be exported.
It would be far more
efficient, and the UK would benefit from up-selling and exporting the finished
product. The ban may impact some trade – for instance there is a trade in
sheep (as opposed to lamb) exported for their mutton. There is a limited market
for mutton in the UK so most goes for export. Mutton sheep sold in the UK for
around £70 to £80 a head, are exported, live, to the EU where they make around
£200 because of the higher demand there. We must oblige the trade to slaughter,
then export and keep the profits locally and if they don't like it they must
source their mutton elsewhere. This good meat, flavoursome and at bargain
prices may well find itself trending in the UK. I would like to see that and
help support our farmers and also hard-working families. On any account,
we must not put profit ahead of stopping unnecessary suffering. It
is worth mentioning that the trade in live export of horses and ponies under a
certain value has long since been banned. We must now focus our concerns on
other animals destined for export for slaughter.
The Rt Hon Member
for Chipping Barnet chose for good reason to postpone House of Commons
consideration of her Ten Minute Rule Bill - it still remains an option to
debate later in this Parliamentary session. Significantly though, she has met
with The Secretary of State for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs earlier
this year to discuss her Ten Minute Rule Bill. I understand the meeting was
helpful and constructive. The Secretary expressed sympathy with the concerns
over live exports, and is committed to restricting the trade. The Government is
preparing proposals on live exports for consultation and is looking very
seriously at a ban. There is the very real prospect that the matter of animal
exports is included in the Agriculture Bill, which the Government is committed
to bringing forward. There is a clear indication that The Secretary will look
into this.
Just a few years
ago live export was big business. It is estimated that around 750,000+ animals
were live exported in 2000 for slaughter or fattening. That figure has declined
and is now reckoned to be around 43000 in 2016 according to RSPCA figures.
Tougher regulations and public awareness has seen a switch to carcass export.
There is still a busy export trade in live animals between Northern Ireland
[NI] and Southern Ireland [SI] and I see no reason why that cannot continue
post BREXIT. Dairy cattle are routinely sent to the Republic who then send the
milk produced back to NI. Calves cross the border for fattening too. Concerns
have been raised that in order to escape a ban a trade might develop where live
exports continue from across the UK by shipping to NI, then on to SI and then
on to the Continent. Apart from this being a hugely expensive and thus
untenable operation, legislation already exists around journey times,
conditions and the need for approved and posted journey plans. Limiting journey
times further to say 8 hours once animals have left UK territory would scupper
any chicanery of this sort. I believe we can leave N I and S I (with some
additional safeguards) to continue as they are without fear of this creating a
loophole post BREXIT. It would also assist with World Trade Organisation rules
in so far that regulations state that as members, we cannot treat one country
differently than another on trade in the same product.
I have taken into
account and looked carefully at a range of proposals and concerns from groups,
including the NFU. There are concerns about tariffs imposed on the carcase
trade post BREXIT. Whilst I accept this point we have yet to see how matters of
this nature will be settled. Further, post BREXIT there are new and bigger
markets to pursue. British food has worldwide acclamation. We can and will do
better post BREXIT and whilst the tariff issue is yet unknown it cannot be a
deal breaker in deciding animal welfare. It could be argued that tariffs might
apply to live exports as opposed to carcase trade. I see no value in
speculation here. There's no substitute for doing the right thing. And that
applies to animal welfare and leaving the EU. There might be some choppy water ahead
but I'd rather face that interim phase than be hamstrung forever by the
floundering EU.
Another proposal I
have considered is that there is an overhaul of current legislation post BREXIT
with the introduction of a new “live export assurance scheme.”
We could make these
regulations as stringent as we like of course, post BREXIT. The difficulty is
that the current rules are flouted all too often - with impunity. If we cannot
enforce current regulations beyond our own shores then this proposal becomes largely
redundant. Further our petition proposer, Janet Darlison, has recorded serious
animal welfare shortcomings, in breach of current regulations as lorries arrive
at UK ports ahead of the onward journey. Anecdotal and documented
evidence suggests the further animals travel away from British shores, the more
they suffer in transit if only because of distance and time. More alarmingly
though, is they are more likely to suffer from heat, lack of food and water, no
rest, stress, injury, death and a lower and unacceptable disparity in the
conditions and circumstances of their slaughter at final, distant location,
compared with high and monitored UK slaughter regulations.
The export of high
value breeding stock can continue. These prized animals have always fared far
better in transit. We have to act though on the grim and unnecessary export of
live animals for slaughter. It must stop. It has already dramatically dwindled
in recent years. Live animal export for animals destined for slaughter has been
banned already for many years elsewhere in the world – such as in New Zealand.
The UK has never been frightened of doing the right, decent and moral thing
even when that may not accord with everyone or best suit the status quo. The
new freedoms afforded by the beckoning BREXIT will reinstate our sovereignty.
We can once again do what is right and proper by our nations, our people and
our animals. We can fulfil a manifesto promise regarding live animal export. I
commend this petition to the chamber.
