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Livestock: Exports

Asked by Laura Kyrke-SmithLabourDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled Answered 1 December 2025UIN 89887

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that closer alignment with the European Union on a Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary Agreement does not adversely impact (a) animal welfare laws and (b) the ban on live exports.

Answered by Dame Angela Eagle

This Government shares the British public's high regard for animal welfare and understands the strong sentiment that led to legislation to ban live exports going to slaughter.

The UK-EU Common Understanding states that there will be a number of areas where we retain our own rules. The details of these are now subject to negotiation, but we have been clear about the importance of being able to set high animal welfare standards.

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