EXPORT OF LIVE FARM ANIMALS

Early day motion 228, tabled 9 July 1997 by Mike Hancock (Liberal Democrat). Signed by 57 members.

That this House is alarmed to learn that the United Kingdom exported around one million farm animals, mainly sheep and lambs but also pigs, for slaughter in 1996; believes that long export journeys often inflict great suffering on the animals, a significant number of which end up in abattoirs in Spain, Italy and Greece, countries where slaughter methods can be extremely cruel; notes that a 1996 research paper by the University of Bristol concludes that 'from a welfare point of view, transport distances and times should be kept to the minimum' and that long journeys can result in increased levels of diseases and mortality; welcomes the training and licensing provisions in the new Transport Order but believes that the new rules will do nothing to reduce journey times with exporters still being able to transport sheep and lambs to Southern Europe; believes that a trade which regularly imposes suffering on animals is not only bad for animal welfare but also for the rural economy and accordingly that the export of live animals for slaughter abroad should be brought to an end and replaced by a trade in carcass exports; and calls on Her Majesty's Government to do all it can to bring the cruel live export trade to an end as a matter of urgency and to persuade the United Kingdom's EU partners to replace long distance live transport throughout the EU with a trade in meat.

Signatures by party: Labour 38, Liberal Democrat 14, Labour/Co-operative 4, Conservative 1.