Letter to farmers includes pledge to uphold high standards.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has promised to seek to advance international co-operation on animal welfare and promote high welfare standards in an open letter to British farmers.

The letter, published to coincide with the Farm to Fork Summit, sets out six principles to support British farmers as future trade deals are negotiated. Sunak writes that these principles will ensure that ‘British farming is at the heart of British trade.’

The welfare of farm animals is the focus of the fifth principle, which promises to uphold UK production standards in new trade agreements. It states that methods such as sow stalls and battery cages are not permitted in the UK.

Other promises include protecting sensitive sectors and preserving UK food standards, including a commitment never to allow chlorine-washed chicken or hormone-treated beef to be sold on the UK market.

The RSPCA has cautiously welcomed the plan, but warned that “the proof will be in the pudding.”
 
The charity has highlighted that the recently-signed trade deal with the Trans-Pacific trade bloc allows the UK to import food produced using methods which are illegal in this country, including the sow stalls and battery cages mentioned by the Prime Minister.

RSPCA head of public affairs David Bowles said: "The UK Government needs to put animal welfare at the heart of their food policy.

"But while there's much to welcome in today's six-point plan, it will take more than just words for this administration to get their animal welfare agenda, and commitment to high welfare in trade, back on track.

"When it comes to protecting animal welfare in trade, the proof will be in the pudding. But Ministers have already sold out on imported eggs and pig products from Canada, and UK markets have been opened up to lower-welfare beef and lamb from Australia - so clearly there needs to be a change in course to match the rhetoric of this Summit.

"Too often animal welfare has taken a back seat at the negotiating table - but if the UK Government is now serious about changing that, they need to make any overseas trade conditional on core animal welfare standards, giving renewed confidence to farmers and consumers."