EXPORT OF LIVE FARM ANIMALS

Early day motion 161, tabled 12 January 1999 by Gwyn Prosser (Labour). Signed by 75 members.

That this House notes that in a new national opinion poll commissioned by Compassion in World Farming 88 per cent of those questioned said they believe the export of live animals for slaughter abroad should be brought to an end; notes with concern that nearly 500,000 animals, mainly lambs and sheep, but also pigs, were exported from the United Kingdom in 1997; believes that the live export trade imposes great suffering on these animals, many of which are sent on extremely long journeys to Italy, Greece and Spain, where all too often they are killed in abattoirs using cruel and illegal slaughter methods; believes that this trade is not only bad for animal welfare but also for the rural economy, as it deprives United Kingdom abattoirs of jobs and profits; believes accordingly that the export of live animals for slaughter abroad should be brought to an end and replaced by meat 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 63, Labour/Co-operative 5, Liberal Democrat 4, Conservative 3.