LONDON, 5th September 2022
Today (Monday 5th September) the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation (CAWF) has welcomed the Rt Hon. Liz Truss MP as Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the results of the Conservative Party membership ballot which closed on Friday 2nd September.
During the Conservative Party Leadership Contest CAWF called on Ms Truss to support a number of animal welfare commitments included in the Conservative Party Manifesto 2019 and the subsequent Action Plan for Animal Welfare published by Defra in 2021. These included:
- Supporting the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill which would end live exports for fattening and slaughter.
- Honouring existing commitments to consult on ending cages for laying hens and sows on British farms.
- Supporting Henry Smith MP’s Private Members Bill to ban trophy hunting imports, a measure included in both the 2019 Manifesto and Action Plan for Animal Welfare.
- Maintaining commitments not to undermine British farmers in trade deals, in order to ensure British farmers are not undercut by cheap low-welfare foreign goods.
In August CAWF welcomed Patron Lord Zac Goldsmith’s confirmation that Ms Truss will support the Kept Animals Bill into law during the Conservative Environment Network’s Environmental Leadership Hustings. This was reiterated again at the Conservative Rural Forum (CRF) hustings at the end of August, where Heather Wheeler MP confirmed on behalf of Ms Truss that the Kept Animals Bill would be supported into law.
You can read more about CAWF’s campaigning during the Conservative Party Leadership contest here, and Co-Founder Lorraine Platt’s comment piece in Politics Home here.
Lorraine Platt, Co-Founder of Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation, commented: “Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation is delighted to welcome Liz Truss as Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
“The Conservatives have a proud record of delivering animal welfare measures, and we believe there is now a real opportunity for our new Conservative Government under Ms Truss to continue the great progress made over the last two years and further the UK’s position as a global leader in animal welfare.
“In particular, we believe it is critical that the Kept Animals Bill is allocated parliamentary time to complete its passage to law. We welcome confirmations from Liz Truss’ team that this Bill will be honoured under Ms Truss’ leadership, and invite the new Defra Secretary of State to share detail on how this will materialise over the coming weeks.
“We would like to thank Boris Johnson for his time as Prime Minister, and look forward to supporting Ms Truss, and the new Defra team, on advancing animal welfare in the UK.”
About Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation (CAWF)
The Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation was established in 2016 to raise awareness on the lives of billions of animals reared on intensive farms around the world and how this impact upon animal welfare, the environment and people’s health. We want to highlight the action people can take to help advance farm animal welfare.
Animal welfare is an increasing concern amongst the public, who frequently look to Government to take the lead in both maintaining and improving standards.
The Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation believes it is highly important that the welfare of farm animals is placed at the forefront of the Governments plan for food and farming along with its focus on productivity, competitiveness, and technology.
Media contact: Sophia Stileman (sophia.stileman@conservativeanimalwelfarefoundation.org)
