Emma Reynolds MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  I found Sir David Amess to be a really good and generous friend; I went on a number of parliamentary visits with him, and I thank the right hon. Member for what he said about Sir David. We are committed to banning hunting trophies. It is a conservation issue, so it will not be in the animal welfare strategy, but we will be taking measures forward separately.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  May I start by thanking the right hon. Gentleman’s wife for her service over the Christmas period? I am glad to hear that, by the sound of it, he will be spending a lot of time in his kitchen. We promised that we would publish the strategy before Christmas, and we will do precisely that, but obviously we would like to discuss the strategy with colleagues from across the House when it has been published.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  I want to reassure the shadow Minister that we will publish the animal welfare strategy before Christmas, as we have promised. He is right that we face a number of significant issues. We will be tackling those issues head-on. I disagree with the shadow Minister’s characterisation of our Government. This will be the most ambitious animal welfare strategy in a generation. However, I agree with and echo his thanks to the vets, farmers and regulators for their work all year round, but particularly over the festive period.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  I say politely to the right hon. Gentleman that the time to raise those issues was earlier today.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  I can confirm that. As I said earlier, measures are already in place to provide funding to farmers to help them improve animal welfare standards. Those measures include veterinary visits to help them continue to improve their animal welfare standards.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  I know that one of my Conservative predecessors, Michael Gove, has been very critical of the trade deals done by the last Government with Australia and New Zealand, but the hon. Member will appreciate that it is very difficult to unpick trade deals once they are in place.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  We are a country that cares deeply for animals, and we have a proud history of being pioneers when it comes to ensuring the very best for them. We had the world’s first known animal welfare law in 1822, and produced animal welfare pioneers and organisations known across the globe today. As announced this morning in Environment, Food and Rural Affairs oral questions, next week we intend to publish our animal welfare strategy, which takes forward our manifesto promises through the most ambitious reform to animal welfare in a generation. It will be a comprehensive package of reforms that will improve the lives of millions of animals across the UK. It covers all our relevant manifesto commitments, such as the commitments to give farm animals greater freedom and dignity, and to protect our wildlife. By improving animal welfare standards, we are supporting healthier, more productive livestock that deliver better outcomes for farmers, farm profitability and food security, and the high welfare standards that British consumers expect. The animal welfare strategy builds on this Government’s proven track record of delivering reforms for animals, including introducing new world-leading standards for zoos earlier this year and supporting the passage of the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Act 2025, to tackle puppy smuggling, and the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Act 2025, whose Royal Assent you have just announced, Mr Speaker, and which is about the worrying of livestock. Labour has always been the party of animal welfare. During our last term in government, we enacted the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and we banned foxhunting.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  I have ordered my meat from my local butcher already. It is a bit late in the day, but I thank my hon. Friend for the reminder to those who may not have done so already. We want to make sure that there is transparency, and we are working on labelling. It will not be part of this strategy, but we are looking at it separately.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  The short answer to my hon. Friend—I am sure you will appreciate this, Mr Speaker—is yes.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  I know that the hon. Member is active on the issue of farrowing crates. Some 50% of the sow herd give birth outside, but we are looking at what more we can do to deal with the rest that do not; that is a priority for the Government.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  I can reassure my hon. Friend that that is precisely what we are doing—we are protecting the high standards we have here in the UK in the trade deals that we are doing with other countries around the world.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  In the new year, we will issue a consultation on banning trail hunting, as we committed to do in our manifesto. My hon. Friend is right in the things she says about it.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  As the hon. Member will probably know, that is a joint responsibility with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, which leads on it. We are working closely with DSIT. It released a strategy recently that ensures we can use alternatives more quickly to phase out animal testing. I would be happy to discuss it with him, but it is led by DSIT rather than DEFRA. It is seen as an animal welfare issue, but it sits with DSIT.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  That is raised with me in my constituency too. It is a tricky issue, however, because there are lots of people across the country who, at different religious festivals and obviously on Guy Fawkes day, enjoy fireworks. It is about getting the balance right.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  I am sure that there will be opportunities in the new year to have a discussion about the animal welfare strategy. I will be able to confirm the answer to the hon. Member’s question when the strategy comes out.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  I could not agree more. I was not a Member of this House during the last Labour Government, but as a proud Labour member, I am proud that that Government banned foxhunting. I reiterate what my hon. Friend says: those who engage in this illegal practice should face the full force of the law.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman, on behalf of the whole House, for what he has just said, and for his service, before he became a Member and since. This is a really important area, and we absolutely appreciate that the Veterinary Surgeons Act needs updating. I can reassure him that we are continuing to pursue opportunities to do that.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Mr Speaker. I think you have much in common with my hon. Friend. I thank her for her doughty campaigning on this issue. The work we are doing on the Veterinary Surgeons Act is separate from the animal welfare strategy, but as we have discussed privately, that work is ongoing.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is a great campaigner for his constituency and does great work locally. We do indeed have a good reputation for animal welfare around the world. I was in Brussels recently meeting my counterparts at the European Commission, and they were very interested in what we are doing here in the UK. Obviously they are doing different things in Europe, but it is always interesting to share notes.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  I reassure my hon. Friend that we are looking at this issue, and there will be further details in the strategy.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  As I said in response to a previous question, this is a DSIT lead, not a DEFRA lead. We do work closely with DSIT, and as a Labour Government, we are committed to phasing out animal testing as quickly as possible, but obviously we need alternatives to be in place to do so.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question. We did debate this issue on the radio together. The reason we are making these changes is that the top 7% of estates account for 40% of inheritance tax reliefs—that is £219 million for the top 37 landowners—and we think that is unfair.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We know how much you love your pets, Mr Speaker, and we are a nation of animal lovers. We intend to publish our animal welfare strategy very soon, taking forward our manifesto promises with the most ambitious reform in a generation. This commitment to animal welfare sits alongside our wider ambitions for nature. Earlier this month we launched our environmental improvement plan, which sets out how we will protect our environment for future generations. Finally, Mr Speaker, I wish you, your family, your many pets, your staff, the House staff who look after us so well, and all hon. Members, a merry Christmas. As many of us prepare to spend time with loved ones over Christmas, I want to thank the farmers, the emergency workers and many more who will continue their vital work throughout the festive period.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I am pleased to confirm that the animal welfare strategy will be published before Christmas, and I will have more to say about that shortly in the House. We are giving this country of animal lovers the legislation to match. The strategy will set out our priorities until 2030 and take forward the manifesto commitments on which Government Members stood.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Well, Mr Speaker, it was not really worth waiting for. In the first instance, I urge the right hon. Lady to check her emails, as I sent a detailed response to her letter. I also urge her to stop talking the sector down. We are ensuring that we are helping farmers to be more profitable, which is why we have published the Batters review today. We are setting out in the new year our next iteration of the SFI, in close collaboration with the farming sector, and we will also set out our 25-year farming road map.