David Pinto-Duschinsky MP: speeches

Speeches

• 9 Jun 2025 · Non-stun Slaughter of Animals · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I thank hon. Members for engaging in the debate and I congratulate the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) on the way he has led it. I also thank Mr Osborne for instigating the petition. The debate allows us to directly address some of the myths that pervade the conversation and speak honestly about the implications that it has for our Jewish and Muslim communities. Let us start with the myths. Everyone here today believes in improving animal welfare. We have heard that time and again. I want to acknowledge the really strong and right feelings of all those who signed the petition. We are right to be proud of our reputation as a nation of animal lovers. Proponents of moves to ban what they call non-stun slaughter argue that stunning is more humane. Their advocacy conjures up pictures of animals gently and humanely put to sleep, shielded from suffering. I am afraid to say that reality does not always conform to that comforting image. As we have heard, modern industrial methods of stunning often involve significant distress and suffering. Animals are suffocated and slowly asphyxiated by carbon dioxide gas, electrocuted by having metal tongs placed around their heads, or maybe even placed upside down and dipped in baths of electrified water. As we have heard, captive bolts are also used. These processes are used not to minimise pain, but to maximise economic efficiency. They still entail significant suffering, and it is not clear at all that they involve less suffering than traditional forms of ritual slaughter used in the Muslim and Jewish communities. For instance, evidence suggests that animals undergoing kosher or halal slaughter often rapidly lose consciousness. A recent peer-reviewed report in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association suggests that, in the case of kosher slaughter, consciousness is lost within 10 seconds. Both Jewish and Muslim traditions emphasise the compassionate and humane treatment of animals. A focus on using factory methods of meat production will not reduce the suffering of individual animals, and it will not reduce the suffering of the animals we consume overall. Kosher slaughter accounts for 0.5%—just one in 200—of all animals slaughtered in the UK, and so-called non-stun halal slaughter accounts for merely 2.6%, so 97% of animals are unaffected. If we are serious about improving animal welfare, we should focus on how the 97% are treated throughout their lives, and not how the 3% meet their end. Banning or severely curtailing traditional slaughter will not help animal welfare, but it will hugely impact Jewish and Muslim communities. That bring us to the implications for those communities, and here I need to declare an interest of sorts. Just as colleagues have declared that they keep halal, I should say that I am Jewish and I only eat kosher meat. I am proud to represent large Jewish and Muslim populations in my Hendon community. I say to the proponents of a ban that keeping the rules of kashrut or halal is not some minor technical issue for observant Jews and Muslims; it is at the core of their—our—religious practice. To be an observant Jew is to keep kosher and to be an observant Muslim is to honour halal and avoid that which is haram. Banning or restricting halal or kosher meat would strike at the core of religious freedom for Jews and Muslims. It is an affront to the principles of religious liberty upon which this country is so proudly built. It would essentially deny Jews and Muslims the right to practise their religion in our country in the way that they see fit. I say respectfully that, as we have heard today, proponents of a ban have no answer to that argument. They cannot tell us what they expect Jews and Muslims who wish to be observant to do. They need to be honest about what a ban really means for their Jewish and Muslim friends, colleagues and neighbours. Some proponents have suggested not banning kosher and halal slaughter, but labelling all kosher and halal meat as non-stun. I say to them that, at a time when antisemitism has reached record levels and Islamophobia has risen dramatically, labelling meat prepared for the Jewish and Muslim communities as inherently cruel not only is inaccurate, but will feed the fires of prejudice. Of course, for some people in today’s debate, that is unfortunately the whole point, and this is where we need to come to some honesty. The vast majority of people engaged in the debate do so in good faith, but a very small number are not interested in animal rights, compassion in farming or food standards; they are interested only in division. In France and other countries, the far right has used this issue to stir up hatred against minorities. We must not allow it to be used as a weapon to sow the seeds of division between our communities here. We must not allow those who seek to undermine the quintessentially British value of tolerance to do so. The British answer is to maximise animal rights while protecting religious freedom. Banning this form of slaughter is fundamentally un-British. Animal welfare is critical—I endorse all moves to enhance it—but so is religious freedom. Banning kosher and halal slaughter will not improve welfare. There are other measures that will achieve that far more effectively, and they should be taken. However, imposing a ban would curtail the fundamental religious freedoms of my Jewish and Muslim constituents in Hendon, and I fear that it may feed a rising tide of prejudice. I urge everyone who cares for our communities, and for animal rights, to join me in rejecting the calls for this divisive ban.

• 4 Jun 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The Environment Agency predicts that 8 million homes—one in four in England—could be at risk of flooding by 2050. Despite this, the Conservative party presided over a tripling of the proportion of our flood defences that are deemed “not adequate”. By contrast, this Labour Government are investing over £2.6 billion in new flood defences, including on the Greenway in my Hendon constituency. Does the Prime Minister agree that it is a shame that not all parties share this Government’s determination to keep homes safe from flooding?

• 1 Apr 2025 · Royal British Legion · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. It is our sacred duty to make sure that we never forget the brave men and women who served and gave their lives for our freedom. For over 100 years, the Royal British Legion has done fantastic work not just to continue bearing the torch of remembrance, but to ensure that our veterans and their families are given the support they need. The RBL is the beating heart of the network that looks after our armed forces community. We all have contact with the Royal British Legion each year when we buy and proudly wear our poppies, but many people might not realise that this is just a fraction of the services it provides. It is the UK’s largest armed forces charity, with 180,000 members, 110,000 volunteers and a network of partners and charities. It provides recovery and rehabilitation services, and expert advice and guidance, to service personnel and their families, as well as campaigning day in, day out to improve the lives of everyone in the armed forces community and make sure that their voice is heard. In my community, I have repeatedly had the great honour of joining the volunteers from the Edgware branch of the Royal British Legion. All visitors to the Broadwalk shopping centre know about the hard work that such volunteers do when they give up their free time to support our servicemen and women. These volunteers represent the spirit of selflessness to which we should all aspire, and which the Royal British Legion embodies. We all share an obligation to members of our armed forces, who sacrifice so much for us. The work that the RBL does to support veterans and their families in my constituency cannot be underestimated. There are so many amazing local volunteers who deserve our recognition—unfortunately, too many to name today—but I want to recognise one person: our local branch chair, Maxine Webber, who does so much for our community. She is the living embodiment of the sense of duty, community spirit, energy and pride that the Royal British Legion stands for. It is right that we have taken time in our parliamentary schedule to give our thanks to the Royal British Legion and everyone who volunteers for it. In fact, it is especially fitting that we are doing so on a warm spring afternoon, when the prospect of buying our poppies in November and joining the Remembrance Day commemorations on a cold winter’s morning feel so far away, because the Royal British Legion works hard all year round. It represents all that is great about our armed forces and Britain. Its work neither stops nor ends on 11 November, so it is right that we should think about the RBL, pay our thanks and support it as best we can all year round.

• 17 Dec 2024 · Warm Homes Plan · Hansard source

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  The last Government left us far too reliant on foreign dictators for our energy needs. I congratulate this Government on their focus on ending that dependence and making us energy independent. What steps is my hon. Friend taking to reduce bills for residents in my constituency and to further ensure that Britain remains genuinely energy independent?

• 8 Oct 2024 · Energy Security · Hansard source

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  People across Hendon have paid the price for the previous Government’s failure over the last 14 years to invest in our energy system. Does the Minister agree that the only way to get us off the rollercoaster of high bills is to invest at pace and scale, as the Government are doing through our clean energy mission?

• 8 Oct 2024 · Energy Security · Hansard source

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  4. What steps he is taking to improve energy security.