Defra is supposedly working on a new Animal Welfare Strategy, so I wrote to my local Labour MP:

The Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs has said “The Government were elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans in a generation to improve animal welfare, and that is exactly what we will do.” So hopefully this letter is unnecessary, but I am writing to do what I can to encourage this Labour government to be ambitious in the upcoming Animal Welfare Strategy. I hope you and fellow MPs will also be encouraging that.

Without dwelling on all the forms of suffering that the Strategy could help tackle, I want to highlight three very plausible and impactful areas.

1. Cages: Ending the use of cages for pigs and chickens at least. Regarding farrowing crates, 96% of the public say it is not acceptable to “keep pigs in tight cages where they cannot turn around for weeks”. And for chickens, retailers are already in the end stages of phasing out caged hen eggs. In both cases, there now seems to be a lot of momentum behind a legal phase-out – with action also likely in the EU – and it would be very disappointing if the Strategy ducked this. Clearly any phase-out periods should not be unnecessarily long.
   
   
2. Labelling: Defra has consulted on mandatory, tiered welfare labelling for pig, chicken and egg products and noted “the strong support from the public and other stakeholders”. Given that the shadow minister is criticising Labour for being too slow on this, and that Defra estimates that labelling would be a net boost to UK businesses, it would be very disappointing for Labour to abandon this plan. In addition to labelling products in supermarkets etc., I hope reform will introduce corporate welfare reporting requirements for big restaurant chains if labelling is not applied to them. Overall, I think mandatory labelling is important to, among other benefits:
   • Help address the problem of imports, by clearly categorising those that don’t demonstrate UK welfare standards.
   • Help encourage the shift to better broiler chicken standards.
   • Allow consumers to e.g. avoid employing farrowing crates during any years-long phase-out period.
   • Provide a straightforward basis for public procurement to avoid low-welfare products in future; and for private businesses to do the same (e.g. “we only use higher-welfare, ‘grade A-C’ meat products”).
     
     
3. Fur: Global fur production has collapsed by 85% over the past decade, and production is already illegal in the UK. But there are still large numbers of mink, foxes, and raccoon dogs being farmed in cages for fur – often increasing pandemic risks too. As Ruth Jones MP has proposed, the UK should no longer allow the import and sale of new furs from such animals, as is already the law for cats, dogs and seals. Ideally, action here would spur and complement policy action in the EU, which appears quite possible.

A Strategy that included those changes would be an animal welfare record that Labour MPs could be proud of over this Parliament. And there is plenty of potential for media headlines along the lines of ‘This Labour Government opposes animal cruelty’, in line with the vast majority of public opinion, at essentially zero fiscal cost.