The British prime minister, who once purchased a field in the leafy English county of Surrey so his mum could look after rescue donkeys, probably knows better than to mess with Britain’s animals.
“One of the main platforms those who wanted to leave the EU stood on when campaigning for Brexit was that we would be able to improve animal welfare standards, it is therefore essential that any agreement that is entered into still allows the UK to have higher animal welfare laws,” Edie Bowles, executive director at The Animal Law Foundation said.
“Not only that, we should ensure that those animal welfare standards are robust and not undermined by lower welfare imports. The U.K. public cares deeply about animal welfare and wants to see it paid more than just lip service.”
Two-way street
It’s possible the SPS deal might not end up being just a one-way street on animal welfare.
Bowles said the U.K. had just lowered legal protections for chickens by “legalizing the practice of handling chickens by their legs, which causes significant welfare issues and is currently prohibited in the EU.”
She added that it was also “essential that along with not accepting lower welfare imports the U.K. does not fall behind the EU … what the public want is an agreement in place that encourages a race to the top between the two parties, rather than a race to the bottom.”
There may end up being some compromises. Ahead of last year’s general election Labour’s environment chief Steve Reed said his party would “ban the commercial import of foie gras, where ducks and geese are aggressively force-fed.” Some commentators have since noted that ministers are yet to re-state this plan in government.
Asked about plans for a carve-out, a U.K. government spokesperson said: “Following the UK-EU Summit we will be finalising the details of our SPS agreement, which will make trade with our biggest market cheaper and easier. We won’t get ahead of those negotiations but we have been clear about the importance of setting high animal welfare standards.”
