No one wants to see animals suffering, especially when it is preventable.  Therefore, the Conservative government’s plans to ban the export of live animals for slaughter and fattening have been widely welcomed.  These proposals form part of an eight-week consultation seeking views on how to better protect animal welfare during transport.  The consultation by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs can be easily found online and is open until the 28th January.   

Sadly, live animals often have to endure excessively long journeys during exports, causing distress and injury.  Previously, EU rules prevented any changes to these journeys, but leaving the EU has enabled the government to pursue these plans which would prevent unnecessary suffering of animals during transport and see us become the first country in Europe to end this practice.  I hope other European countries will follow our lead.

I very much welcome this move and am pleased that the government is also consulting on proposals to further improve animal welfare in transport more generally, such as reduced maximum journey times, animals being given more space and headroom during transport, and stricter rules on transporting animals in extreme temperatures.

I know these plans will be strongly welcomed in Crawley and I’d like to pay tribute to the tireless work of our local MP Henry Smith, who as a strong advocate for animal rights has been campaigning for many years for the ending of live animal exports.  This follows his previous successful campaigning to have mandatory CCTV introduced into slaughterhouses.  It was eight years ago under the Coalition government that Henry first spoke about live animal exports in the House of Commons.   

This announcement marks the start of renewed government efforts to raise standards on animal welfare even further now we are outside the EU, including taking steps to ban primates as pets and cracking down on the illegal smuggling of dogs and puppies, with further proposals to improve standards and eradicate cruel practices expected in the coming months.  As a nation of animal lovers, it’s great to see that we are a world leader on animal welfare.  

Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group

10th December 2020