Irene Campbell MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 13 Oct 2025 · Bovine Tuberculosis Control and Badger Culling · Hansard source

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  I fully agree with my hon. Friend. It is time to catch up with countries with lower rates of bovine TB and to focus on similar biosecurity measures rather than cruel culls that kill hundreds of thousands of badgers as well as hundreds of thousands of cows. We know from the bovine TB rates in England that our current strategy is not working, and that targeting animals that make up the least number of transmissions cannot be the way forward. It is important for everyone that bovine tuberculosis is effectively tackled. Farmers and the Government are losing money, and cows and badgers are dying unnecessarily. New TB herd incidents have fallen by only 1% since the badger cull restarted in 2013, and innocent animals are continuing to die while nothing is improving. There should undoubtedly be more bovine testing, and we must consider options such as the development of the bovine vaccine and the increased roll-out of badger vaccination. In addition, there could be incentives for farmers to take part in such schemes, as well as to adopt enhanced biosecurity. The previous Government encouraged fearmongering around the role of badgers in spreading the disease, and I encourage this Government not to make the same mistake. Farmers must be supported throughout the strategy and the transition to new methods. If the next strategy is poorly implemented, we risk calls for badger culling to return. The Government said in response to the petition: “Existing cull processes will be honoured to ensure clarity for farmers involved in these culls whilst new measures can be rolled out. However, the government has decided that it will not be proceeding with the proposals drawn up under the previous government relating to targeted badger culling.” In the light of the evidence, I ask the Government to review and cancel all existing cull licences, such as those that Natural England set earlier this year. I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response as to how a Labour Government will tackle bovine TB and, as a Labour MP, I urge us to follow our manifesto commitment to end the badger cull.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Bovine Tuberculosis Control and Badger Culling · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered e-petition 700317 relating to Bovine Tuberculosis control and badger culling. It is a privilege to serve under your chairship, Mr Stuart. The petition is titled “End the Badger cull and adopt other approaches to bovine TB control” and was created by Robert Pownall, founder of the group Protect the Wild. The number of signatures has reached more than 102,000, which is a great achievement. The petition states: “The Government’s TB Eradication Strategy allows the continued killing of badgers, a protected species, until the end of this Parliament, despite the Labour manifesto calling the cull ‘ineffective.’” It goes on: “We believe the badger cull is unjustified and must end…We call for an immediate end to the cull and the implementation of cattle focused measures to control bTB, rather than what we see as scapegoating wildlife.” It is important to note that badgers have been part of the British Isles for at least 250,000 years, and their presence is integral to maintaining our ecosystem balance. Bovine tuberculosis has had a terrible impact on the English countryside, wildlife and farmers. In the past 10 years, 278,000 infected cattle have been ordered to be slaughtered and more than 230,000 badgers have been culled. I was surprised to learn that culled cows that are found to have one visible lesion can enter the food chain if the lesioned area is removed. Those with two or more lesions are deemed unsafe and cannot enter the food chain. Farmers receive compensation for the slaughtered cattle, and almost £23 million was paid out in 2024. As a side note, that may be something to consider in any future food-labelling schemes or policies, as I am sure many consumers would like to know whether they are eating a cow that had tuberculosis. On 30 August 2024, the Government announced the start of work on their new strategy to tackle bovine tuberculosis, and the goal of achieving the status of England being officially free of bovine tuberculosis by 2038. I look forward to hearing more about that from the Minister. One way to achieve that status is through an increase in vaccination. The Government said in their response to the petition that the “development of a cattle vaccine…is at the forefront” of their solutions. Field trials of the cattle Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine and the companion test to detect infections among vaccinated animals—which is often called the DIVA test—have been ongoing since June 2021. To increase the roll-out and coverage of badger vaccination the Government also plan to establish a new badger-vaccinator field force, which will go hand in hand with a study to analyse the effect of badger vaccination on the incidence of TB in cattle. It is important to note that the petitioner’s view is that vaccinating badgers is not the way forward as he believes it continues to push the belief that badgers are responsible for the spread of bovine TB, which he advises is not the case. As we will hear, scientific evidence such as that from Professor Mark Brewer backs up that position. However, groups such as Wildlife and Countryside Link believe that badger vaccination is a useful tool for replacing badger culling. Their opinion is that as studies show that the majority of infection is from cattle to cattle, some is cattle to badger and a very small minority is badger to cattle, the focus should be cattle based, whether in relation to testing or vaccination, with badger vaccination being a supplementary tool. The Badger Trust found that 94% of cases are spread from cow to cow and that more cattle were slaughtered in 2021 than in 2013, when the most recent cull started. Vaccinated badgers are also likely to be culled at times. Biosecurity is a fundamental approach to tackling bovine TB, but a survey of farmers carried out by the trust indicated that farm biosecurity was not widely employed by respondents. The next steps could, then, focus heavily on enhancing biosecurity. In fact, the updated Godfray bovine TB strategy review concluded: “As a decision has been made to phase out culling it is of great importance to develop effective non-lethal interventions to enable eradication, such as vaccination of badgers or reducing contact between badgers and cattle.” It went on: “An unfortunate consequence of the controversy around badger culling and the politicisation of the debate has been a deflection of focus from what can be done by the individual farmer and by the livestock industry to help control the disease. In particular, the poor take up of on-farm biosecurity measures and the extent of trading in often high-risk cattle is severely hampering disease control measures.” Relevant biosecurity measures include the timely testing of cattle to reduce the risk from cattle movement and the use of multiple forms of testing that combine sensitivity and specificity. Good husbandry—for example, maintaining robust perimeter boundaries, using double fencing and avoiding common grazing and shared watercourses—should also be encouraged. As a Scottish MP, I note that Scotland has had official tuberculosis-free status since 2009 and stopped badger culling in 2012. The Scottish Wildlife Trust states: “The decision to begin mass badger culling was made despite the results of the Randomised Badger Culling Trial” between 1998 and 2005, “which concluded that ‘badger culling can make no meaningful contribution to cattle TB control in Britain’. The study found that reactive badger culling (culling badgers on and around farms with outbreaks of bTB) could actually increase incidences of bTB due to badgers that survive culling roaming beyond their usual range and therefore spreading bTB further”. Similarly, Wales stopped culling in 2021 and instead focused on cattle and transmission routes. A Veterinary Record study of the impact of badger culling on bovine tuberculosis in cattle in the high-risk area of England claims: “During the same period as this study, Wales achieved similar reductions in herd bovine TB incidence as England, through the introduction of improved bovine TB testing and other cattle measures, and without widespread badger culling. This suggests that bovine TB in cattle can indeed be controlled through cattle measures alone, as was predicted by the Independent Scientific Group in 2007.” In 2022, the European Health and Digital Executive Agency found that 17 countries in Europe were designated as free from bovine TB, yet only three countries used the licensed culling of wildlife: England, Ireland and some parts of France. Many are of the view that badgers are not the primary cause of the spread of bovine TB and that culling them is a cruel and ineffective way to tackle the disease. Given all the aforementioned evidence, it is only fair to ask the Government to stop issuing new licences for culls and instead to focus on non-lethal intervention.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Bovine Tuberculosis Control and Badger Culling · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention but I have to say that I disagree. The evidence is there for the badger cull to end immediately.

• 11 Sept 2025 · Male Chick Culling · Hansard source

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  I fully agree with what the hon. Member said and I think that is a good example to follow. Two major hatcheries dominate the UK’s laying-hen sector. If we were able to introduce in-ovo sexing technology in just two hatcheries, we would be able to eradicate the vast majority of male chick culling in the UK’s commercial egg industry, so surely that is worth considering. The public are vastly in favour of that as well. A poll by the Vegetarian Society in May found that 76% of respondents supported banning male chick culling even if it would result in a price increase of 1p per egg. In Westminster, over 30 MPs and peers from different parties signed a joint letter to the former Minister calling for a ban on male chick culling. What would happen to eggs that are deemed to be male? The immediate answer would be to merge them with other hatchery biproducts used for energy generation, fertiliser or animal feeds. However, experts are also investigating the possibility that the eggs could be used to feed exotic animals in captivity. They could potentially be a high-value product as by day 12 the chick embryos have nails, beaks and bones, as well as not being sentient yet. On a personal note, as a vegan for many years I find this whole discussion difficult, but it is important to highlight that currently culled chicks are being used as animal feed for captive raptors. However, animal by-products from slaughterhouses could be the best alternative, as this would be a circular and low-impact approach that would ultimately reduce the number of animals killed. Experts recommend that this should be a short-term solution, with long-term research focusing on cultivated meat, cultivated casting and even 3D-printed whole-prey alternatives. The culling of live male chicks is a cruel and outdated practice. There is strong public support on this issue and wide international precedent. As with many others, I keenly await the animal welfare strategy this autumn, and I hope that the banning of the culling of male chicks will be a key aim of the strategy. It is important that a road map with a timeline is introduced to phase out this cruel practice and that male chick culling and imports are a thing of the past.

• 11 Sept 2025 · Male Chick Culling · Hansard source

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  I could not agree more.

• 11 Sept 2025 · Male Chick Culling · Hansard source

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  I agree what my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North East (Maureen Burke) said, and I will go on to say more about that. Most people will not have heard of hatch and dispatch, which is a process of culling male chicks a few hours after they are born because they are not capable of laying eggs and do not grow fat enough to breed for meat. It is estimated that 6.5 billion newly hatched male chicks are culled globally every year, around 45 million of which are in the UK. Legally, live chicks can be killed using maceration, exposure to insert gas, or cervical dislocation, where no other method is available. In the 21st century, surely it is not acceptable that such a cruel practice takes place, when alternatives exist, as I will go on to describe. In July 2023, the then Government’s Animal Welfare Committee released a report, “Opinion on chick culling alternatives”, which called to ban male chick culling and imports from systems that still use culling. The Committee advised that any future welfare labelling scheme should say whether the production system culled male chicks or used in-ovo technology, as well as calling for financial support for the introduction of new technologies and for wildlife rehabilitation projects, which are reliant on culled chicks for food. In-ovo technology can determine the sex of a chick while it is in the egg, meaning that only female eggs will hatch and avoid the cruel cull. Research has shown that chick embryos can feel pain from around day 13 of egg incubation, so most in-ovo sexing systems operate between days eight and 12 of incubation. While some methods take small fluid samples, there are also non-invasive techniques, such as spectroscopy and hormone detection. There is also significant progress in many other countries. Male chick culling is banned in Germany, France and Austria, while countries such as Italy have passed bans that will take effect in the future, and many other countries, including the United States and the Netherlands, among others, have adopted in-ovo technology voluntarily or through retail-led initiatives. I hope people here will agree that it is time that the UK catches up and introduces a ban on this cruel practice. Almost 90% of eggs consumed in the UK are produced in the UK; that is a figure of about 12 billion eggs per year, out of the 13.6 billion that are consumed in total, so about 2 billion eggs a year are imported.

• 11 Sept 2025 · Male Chick Culling · Hansard source

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  I declare an interest: earlier this week, I hosted the “Ban Hatch and Dispatch” event in Parliament with the Vegetarian Society, as well as hosting a drop-in event the previous week. It was important to hear presentations from industry experts about the innovative and effective in-ovo testing laboratories in Europe, which offer a vision of what we could have here in the UK. I will be hosting a further event on 4 November and I encourage colleagues to attend. I am keenly awaiting the publication of the animal welfare strategy this autumn, and I hope that this topic will be discussed in it.

• 3 Sept 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q5. Scotland has a proud heritage as one of the world’s great shipbuilding nations. On behalf of the defence industry workers across Ayrshire and beyond, I welcome the largest export deal for new warships ever secured by the UK. Does the Prime Minister agree that this shows how, under Labour, we can build on our proud past to secure a brighter future for our shipbuilding industry?

• 17 Jul 2025 · Global Plastics Treaty · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that the work of community groups such as the Three Towns Clean Up Crew in my constituency and Think About Plastic Arran are crucial to fighting the blight of plastics pollution and the terrible effects it is having on marine life and the wider environment?

• 16 Jul 2025 · Credit Unions · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Twigg. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch (Katrina Murray) for securing this important debate. I declare an interest: I am excited to begin working with the Association of British Credit Unions Ltd on forming the new all-party parliamentary group on credit unions, which will meet for the first time in September. We have heard a lot today about why we need credit unions. Now more than ever, it is important that people have access to affordable loans and do not get trapped by payday loans, expensive hire purchase or even predatory loan sharks. Credit unions are a fantastic example of people working together to make finance more accessible. Many credit unions welcome volunteers. My very good friend Catriona Currie, along with Nancy, volunteered for the credit union in Stevenston, in my constituency, for many years—I think more than 20. Nancy was a founding member of the local credit union and was key in making sure that the service thrived and survived. Until covid, they provided a service every Saturday morning in Stevenston library. Catriona and Nancy knew most members who came in and made sure they had set up the account they needed, including Christmas savings, which many people relied on to get good toys and so on at Christmas time. They often helped with a range of other issues outwith the remit of the credit union. Savers knew and trusted the service provided in their community and very much relied on the credit union. The Association of British Credit Unions describes its vision of credit unions becoming “the primary source of affordable, high quality and ethical financial services for the people of Great Britain.” As we know, many people on low incomes are often excluded from accessing a range of bank accounts. Credit unions can ensure that people can access a degree of financial freedom, allowing them greater control of their finances and a say in how the union is run. It is vital that we encourage membership and ensure that people are aware of this excellent local service. The 1st Alliance community bank in Kilwinning, in my constituency, provides those excellent services to my constituents and the wider west of Scotland. It offers a range of much-needed facilities, including savings, low loan rates, standing orders and online services. I look forward to hearing from other Members and the Minister about what we can do to further support credit unions.

• 10 Jul 2025 · Public Service Reform · Hansard source

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  Does the Minister agree that, while waiting lists in England are falling thanks to billions of pounds of investment into our national health service, it is an absolute disgrace that, despite record levels of money being provided to the Scottish Government, waiting lists in Scotland continue to rise?

• 10 Jul 2025 · Public Service Reform · Hansard source

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  8. What steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to reform public services.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Glaucoma Awareness · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Pritchard. I thank the hon. Member for Leicester South (Shockat Adam) for securing this important debate on glaucoma. In my previous role in the NHS I was part of a working group made up of consultants, GPs, high street optometrists and others. The group was set up to create a primary care eye care service in NHS Ayrshire and Arran. Eyecare Ayrshire was set up as part of a redirection strategy to ensure that people were accessing the services most appropriate to their symptoms. It promotes that the best person to see for minor eye problems is a local optometrist, a high street optician, rather than attending a GP or A&E. The service has been very successful and continues to operate. Really importantly, it directs people to go to the optometrist. That can be vital if there are any other underlying or undiagnosed eye conditions. As we have heard today, early intervention can be crucial. Last week I attended the event hosted by the hon. Member for Torbay (Steve Darling) with Glaucoma UK and Glaukos, which did a great job of raising awareness of one of the leading causes of irreversible blindness. As we have heard, over 700,000 people live with glaucoma in the UK, yet over half do not know it and it is predicted to rise by 44% over the next 20 years. It is vital that we embrace early intervention and improve access to services and treatment before serious deterioration. By 2050 the cost of blindness is estimated to be £33.5 billion, putting immense pressure on the NHS as well as those suffering from blindness. There are treatment options, as we have heard today, for those suffering from glaucoma, including eye drops, laser treatments or traditional surgery. Glaucoma UK recommends that optometrists receive improved education and training on combining those procedures to ensure that patients get the best care possible. It is also important to acknowledge the disparity of services across the UK. In NHS Ayrshire and Arran, the total number of people living with sight loss is 1,000 over the national average. That is obviously a real concern. We need to make sure that people are aware of the need to have routine check-ups, and of the services available to them. Over the years there have been many redirection campaigns to highlight services, and it may be time to reintroduce that approach. I know from my experience in the NHS that identifying these diseases early is key to preventing them from becoming much worse. I encourage the Government to consider the recommendations highlighted.

• 26 Jun 2025 · BBC World Service Funding · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket (Peter Prinsley) for securing this debate and for his excellent speech. Many of the points I was going to make have been raised, so I will keep this brief. It is great to have this debate and reflect on the importance of the BBC World Service and its value overseas as well as in the UK. The BBC is one of the most trusted brand names across the mass audience. I used to work in the Foreign Office—I will say many years ago—which gave me a real appreciation of the value of the BBC World Service. As we have just heard, the World Service is mostly funded by the licence fee, but the remainder is funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Funding the continuation of this service is vital. BBC News, mostly through the World Service, reaches an audience of more than 400 million every week across the world in 43 different languages. It is not surprising that the BBC is the most widely recognised British cultural export and brand. Recently the BBC started broadcasting on medium wave in Russia, which is a crucial opportunity for Russian people to receive impartial news from outside the country, given Russia’s clampdown on media freedom, both in country and worldwide. By funding the World Service, we continue to have strong cultural soft power across the globe through promoting democracy and neutrality in broadcasting. It is important that we protect the BBC World Service in this current climate of vast disinformation and polarisation in the media. I look forward to the Minister’s response.

• 19 Jun 2025 · Incontinence · Hansard source

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  Many years ago, when I worked in the NHS, the board tried to save money by changing the incontinence products that people used. The products were not quite the same, which caused a lot of distress for the people who used them, as well as a lot of inconvenience for the health professionals working with patients, particularly the district nurse team. In the end, it did not really save any money. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is important that people get access to the products that work for them?

• 19 Jun 2025 · Water Safety Education · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton Itchen (Darren Paffey) for securing this important debate. I declare an interest: earlier this month, I hosted an event by Future Lidos, a peer network across the UK and Ireland that is working together to bring outdoor swimming pools to more people in our communities. I am also chair of a local group called Splash, which is working to restore and reopen the outdoor tidal pool in the town of Saltcoats in my constituency. Lidos and outdoor pools provide a safe space and opportunity for people to learn to swim outdoors, and tidal pools get people used to swimming in cold water. I fully support the campaign to open more lidos throughout the UK, although we must make them affordable so that people can access them. Sadly, Scotland has the highest accidental drowning rate of all the UK nations—it is about three times the rate in England. The risk tends to increase with age, peaking in the 60 to 69 age group. Surprisingly, people who plan to go into the water are not always at the highest risk. It has been shown that accidents can occur among walkers and runners, who can slip into the water and drown, which is why it is vital that everyone learns to swim. In Scotland, there is no statutory requirement to provide swimming lessons, and provision is determined on a council-by-council basis. Learning to swim is not a required part of the curriculum, unlike in Northern Ireland, where swimming is part of the minimum content, or in England, as we heard earlier. In Scotland, there is a “learn to swim” framework, but a significant number of children still leave primary school without learning to swim, and this must be urgently addressed by the SNP Scottish Government. As a young girl, I learned to swim in the local outdoor tidal pool at the age of four, thanks to my mum, who was a swimming teacher, and swimming has always been important to me. Swimming and water safety skills are vital, and we need to ensure that all children have the opportunity to learn to swim, as well as ensuring that these skills are reinforced throughout people’s lives in order to protect older people too. It is really important that people are encouraged to learn to swim at all ages, not just from a safety perspective but for the many benefits that swimming offers for health and wellbeing—both physical and mental.

• 18 Jun 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  It saddened me to see an article in the Glasgow Times about the rise of sex crimes at Scottish train stations. Sexual Abuse Compensation Advice found that there has been a 45% increase in sex crimes at Scottish stations, with a total of 87 crimes reported in 2024. Does the Minister agree that women should be able to use public transport without fear of assault? Will she tell me what her Department is doing to tackle such issues?

• 18 Jun 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  6. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls.

• 18 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T2. I was shocked to read recently that Ofsted found that 80% of teenage girls are being put under pressure to provide sexual images of themselves; they can be asked for these pictures multiple times a night. What consideration will there be of social media in the wider strategy to tackle violence against women and girls?

• 16 Jun 2025 · Farmed Animals: Cages and Crates · Hansard source

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  I could not agree more, and I thank the right hon. Gentleman for reminding me to declare my interest as a member of the Labour Animal Welfare Society. In Scotland, 84% of people have said that they think that farrowing crates should be banned immediately or in the next five years. Additionally, more than half of Scots said that they were willing to pay more for pork that was not produced using farrowing crates. That is something to bear in mind. Although the previous Government stated in 2019 that farrowing crates should be banned, consultation never took place on phasing them out. This debate is an opportunity to get that discussion, and hopefully consultation, under way. It is a positive step that there is consensus from various organisations that farrowing crates should be banned, even if differing timelines are suggested. The British Veterinary Association is in favour of banning farrowing crates. It found that 75% of vets are concerned about the impact of farrowing crates on the welfare of pigs, with 36% of those vets saying that they were very concerned. The BVA is now calling for a gradual phasing out of the crates over 15 years and a transition to a system that favours the health of both the sow and the piglets. It recommended that Government producers and retailers should implement an awareness campaign for consumers and share best practice, thus demonstrating that there must be scope to ensure better and more accurate labelling of products. I will say more about that later. In preparing for this debate, meetings were held with the National Pig Association, the National Farmers Union, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Compassion in World Farming and the petitioner, Dame Joanna Lumley. Although I am pleased that the National Pig Association agrees that we need to transition to flexible farrowing systems, it wishes to do so over 20 years. It is good to see that there is agreement on the phasing out of this practice. The RSPCA’s pig experts found that a transition should take no longer than 10 years, and furthermore, Dr Alice Brough, a former pig industry vet, said “We banned gestation crates in 1999; we have had 26 years to prepare for this obvious follow-on.” With that consensus, surely there must be scope to agree a shorter and speedier timeline. I also met with the NFU to discuss its views on enriched cages for laying hens, which, disappointingly, it still supports. It is hugely positive that the vast majority of hens are not kept in cages, but we cannot forget the 23% of eggs that are still laid by hens in cages. We know that the transition is doable and practical, and we must get a timeline in place to see an end to this practice. In 2022, polling found that 94% of the public oppose the use of enriched cages for hens. These cages replaced battery cages, which were banned when the UK adopted the relevant EU Council directive in 2012. However, enriched colony cages have only 9% more usable space per bird than the previous battery cages, and they are hardly bigger than an A4 piece of paper. Every year in the UK, a shocking 8 million layer hens spend their lives in cages. As with pigs, many of their natural behaviours are restricted by these cages. The hens cannot flap their wings, perch or dust bathe, and that can cause frustration, bone weakness and osteoporosis. How enriched are these cages if confinement is so extreme? It is important to note another key issue related to chicken farming: hatch and dispatch. In the UK, 86 male chicks are killed every minute; that is 45 million baby chicks a year. However, this cruel practice is today unnecessary, as countries such as France and Germany have already mandated the use of in-ovo sexing technology, which determines the sex of a chick before they can feel pain. Within in-ovo sexing, eggs can be discarded before they have to hatch. It is estimated that implementing such technology would add less than one penny to the cost of each egg. Surely, the UK must adopt that system without delay.

• 16 Jun 2025 · Farmed Animals: Cages and Crates · Hansard source

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  Our Labour Government were elected with a manifesto that promised to improve animal welfare. I am encouraged by what the Minister just said. The previous new Labour Government made some of the most ambitious and groundbreaking animal welfare improvements that the UK had ever seen. The “New Life for Animals” manifesto led to the EU-wide ban on battery cages, the ban on hunting foxes with hounds, the Animal Welfare Act, the ban on cosmetic testing on animals and the ban on fur farming. Next year will be the 20th anniversary of our historic Animal Welfare Act of 2006 and yet, since the UK left the EU, we have been downgraded in World Animal Protection’s animal protection index. It is time to strengthen our animal welfare standards and to make the UK a leader in animal welfare once again. I ask that our Labour Government start the consultation on cages for hens and farrowing crates for sows. How we treat our animals reflects our values as a society, and it is time to take action now. More consistent and descriptive labelling on method of production should be introduced to enable people to consider fully how the product that they are buying has been produced. That should apply to all products, especially non-UK products. It is only fair to our British farmers that this is done. Finally, I thank Dame Joanna Lumley and Compassion in World Farming for starting this petition. I congratulate Dame Joanna on gathering more than 105,000 signatures. I also thank the Petitions Committee and staff for their hard work, as always, in co-ordinating our debates. I also thank all the groups I met before this debate, including the National Pig Association, the NFU and the RSPCA. Question put and agreed to . Resolved , That this House has considered e-petition 706302 relating to the use of cages and crates for farmed animals.

• 16 Jun 2025 · Farmed Animals: Cages and Crates · Hansard source

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  I agree, and I will later mention that there has to be such support. Groups of pheasant and pairs of partridges are also kept in breeding cages—again, offering each bird little more room than the size of a sheet of A4 paper. The birds suffer from stress, breeding-related injuries and death. There is no legislation on how birds should be treated apart from 2009 guidance from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. That must surely be urgently reviewed. Many quail are still kept in battery cage systems or overcrowded barns, which raise their stress levels and make them aggressive. They can fly upwards very quickly to get away from danger, so the limited space leads them to injure themselves by hitting their heads. However, there are alternatives, such as barns with more space and better natural conditions. At farms that are RSPCA assured—the UK’s only higher welfare farm assurance and food labelling scheme—cages are not allowed. Laying hens are kept on free range farms or in large barns, where they are free to roam, and sows are loose housed, either indoors with more space or outdoors in paddocks with access to shelter. Such higher welfare standards are increasing in market share and popularity. For example, major retailers such as McDonald’s now use only 100% RSPCA-assured pork and free range eggs, thus demonstrating that restrictive crates and cages are not the only options for our farms or retailers. It is definitely time for the UK to catch up with the animal welfare standards of other countries. We call ourselves a nation of animal lovers, but are we really? People may be surprised to hear that the UK is now ranked 9th in Europe in terms of the percentage of cage-free animals, and a number of other European countries have already banned or are phasing out farrowing crates and enriched cages. For example, farrowing crates are now banned in Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, and enriched cages, as we heard earlier, are banned in Austria, Luxembourg and Switzerland, and will be banned in Germany from 2025, the Czech Republic from 2027 and Slovakia from 2030. France has banned the installation of new enriched cages, and the EU Commission has confirmed that it intends to phase out cages across the EU. Loose farrowing systems have mainly been used in Switzerland since 1997, and studies there have again found that piglet loss in such systems was due mostly to sow-related characteristics rather than the farrowing pen. The reason that loose farrowing systems are not used in other countries is the fear of piglets being crushed by the sow, yet the research showed that the system did not increase pig mortality due to crushing. On 17 February, the Government responded to this petition by saying that the use of cages and close confinement systems was being considered “very carefully” and that they are supporting the transition to free-range laying hens through grants. They reiterated the requirements relating to calves confined for rearing and fattening, as well as guidance on meeting welfare standards for game birds. The Government’s response also detailed the effect that ending the use of farrowing crates would have on trade, which was much discussed in the debate earlier this month, particularly in relation to phasing out low-welfare imports from the UK’s trading partners. When looking at legislation related to this issue, it is important that we consider mandatory labelling to inform customers of the welfare of the animals they choose to eat. In addition, we need to ensure equivalence in animal welfare standards for imported products, in order to support our British farmers to adhere to higher standards. It is important that farmers are supported to make the transitions discussed today. We must urgently phase out low animal welfare imports that do not meet our own animal welfare standards, and British farmers must not be at a disadvantage. In the response to the debate on animal welfare standards in farming earlier this month, the Minister confirmed that the topic of close confinement systems for farm animals was receiving careful attention and that he was well aware of the long-running campaigns on caged animals. I look forward to hearing from the Minister again today, as well as from other hon. Members.

• 16 Jun 2025 · Farmed Animals: Cages and Crates · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered e-petition 706302 relating to the use of cages and crates for farmed animals. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. The petition is titled: “End the use of cages and crates for all farmed animals”, and it was created by Dame Joanna Lumley. It has reached over 105,000 signatures, and it states: “We think the UK Government must ban all cages for laying hens as soon as possible. We think it should also ban the use of all cage and crates for all farmed animals including: farrowing crates for sows…individual calf pens…cages for other birds, including partridges, pheasants and quail…Every year in the UK, millions of farmed animals experience huge suffering confined in cages. From millions of laying hens unable to express their natural behaviours to mother pigs nursing their piglets confined in narrow crates, to calves, quail and game birds.” Surely we cannot allow this to continue. When polled, most people are against cages for farmed animals, and this debate provides an opportunity to highlight the seriousness of the issue and encourage a more rapid solution and approach to phasing cages out. For example, it must be viewed as positive that we have reached a figure of 80% for free-range chickens, and I will say more about that later.

• 16 Jun 2025 · Farmed Animals: Cages and Crates · Hansard source

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  I fully agree with my hon. Friend, and I will cover that later in the debate. I must declare an interest: I hosted a drop-in event on farrowing crates earlier this month with Humane World for Animals UK. There was great interest in that event, and I am delighted to say that the turnout among Members was high. The event raised awareness of the conditions in which sows are kept on some British pig farms. We had on display a replica life-size crate with a life-size animated pig to bring that to life, and to let people see how small the farrowing crate and confinement conditions are. These crates are barred, metal and often barren, and their cramped and unhygienic conditions can lead to disease and the overuse of antibiotics. A poll by Humane World for Animals found that about 73% of people in the UK had either never heard of farrowing crates or did not know very much about them. Hopefully, today’s debate will change that. About 200,000 sows every year spend nearly a quarter of their lives in these farrowing stalls, which are so small that they cannot even turn around, nestle their piglets or express natural behaviours, such as rooting or nest-building. The crates prevent the sow from getting away from the piglets when they start biting her teats, so the piglets’ teeth are often ground down or clipped, which seems a very cruel practice. The piglets are then removed when they are three to four weeks old, compared with how it would be in the wild, where a sow would feed piglets for up to 11 to 13 weeks. After a couple of weeks, the sow is inseminated again. Sows are likely to have two litters a year of 10 to 12 piglets and a breeding lifespan of three years before they are sold for slaughter, which is really quite miserable. On a positive note, though, free farrowing systems exist, where sows are not confined during farrowing and lactation. These can allow the expression of nest-building behaviour, as well as free movement. Such systems make up about 40% of the industry. Group systems of zero confinement allow those expressions and free movement, and they can increase sows’ social interactions. Although it is suggested that zero-confinement systems can increase crushing incidents, research has indicated that there is little difference in piglet mortality between those housed in loose farrowing systems and those in farrowing crates. The number of piglets crushed was higher in loose farrowing, but the number of piglets dying from other causes was higher in crates, so the mortality of piglets is related to other factors, such as size at birth, age of sow and season. One study from Denmark demonstrated that the factors that contributed to pre-weaning death in piglets were: being born into a litter with one or more stillborn litter mates; the number of litters farrowed by the sow; and possibly the time of the year.

• 16 Jun 2025 · Animal Experiments: Medical Research · Hansard source

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  I could not agree more with my hon. Friend. It is worth questioning the quality of care for animals used in animal experiments. Answers to written parliamentary questions indicate that only one licence application has been rejected over the past seven years, indicating that licences to conduct animal experiments are rarely refused. Applicants are also allowed to adjust and resubmit licence applications to enable them to be granted; for the past four years, applications had a mean number of 2.55 iterations before they were granted. According to Animal Free Research, a group that supports scientists to transition from animal-based to human-specific medical research and provides expertise in this area, 154,904 animals were involved in breaches of animal use licence conditions in 2023. Breaches included non-compliance, adverse welfare outcomes, failure to provide adequate care and failure to provide food and water, in some cases for up to six days. An estimated 92% of drugs fail in human clinical trials even though they have passed pre-clinical tests, including animal tests. We already know that our bodies are very different to those of other species and that animals are not a reliable testing method—a simple example is the number of foods that are poisonous to animals but not to humans, such as chocolate, which is poisonous to dogs. One example of that failure is the case of sepsis, a condition that kills 48,000 people in the UK every year. Researchers rely on testing on mice, yet hundreds of drugs that have passed tests on mice have gone on to fail in human trials, demonstrating the unsurprising fact that sepsis in humans is different to sepsis in mice. Researchers from Stanford and Harvard have shown that the genetic responses to inflammation in mice are profoundly different from those in humans, so why do we continue to undertake this horrific testing? I could describe the process of inducing sepsis in mice—I had actually written it out for this debate—but it is extremely distressing, and many would find it very upsetting. I suggest that any Member interested in finding out what defines a severe animal experiment should look it up. It is, indeed, truly horrific. Many other disease models have a history of poor translatability in humans, such as sepsis, as we have just heard, or type 2 diabetes, which could be prime candidates for phasing in more human-relevant models. An example from many years ago is thalidomide, which was tested and tested on mice, and caused no problems whatsoever; however, when taken by pregnant women, many babies were born without limbs, and with other problems. When that drug was tested on mice, it had no impact whatsoever on the baby mice when they were born. To use diabetes as an example, rodents differ from humans on every tier of glucose regulation, yet they are still used in experiments rather than relevant human-based methods. The Labour manifesto commits the Government to partnering with scientists, industry and civil society to phase out animals in medical testing. Science is—