LONDON, 24th October 2022
Today (Monday 24th October) the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation (CAWF) has welcomed the Rt Hon. Rishi Sunak MP as Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation has called on Rishi Sunak 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 recent months Rishi Sunak’s campaign committed to bringing back the Kept Animals Bill to Parliament, and also supporting the Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill. The commitments came following a question from CAWF Co-Founder Lorraine Platt at a local constituency husting and in a written response (here).
Lorraine Platt, Co-Founder of Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Rishi Sunak 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 a fresh opportunity for our Government under Rishi Sunak to forward the UK’s position as a global leader in animal welfare.
“We welcome Mr Sunak’s commitments to support critical animal welfare legislation currently making its way through Parliament, including bringing back the Kept Animals Bill and ensuring Henry Smith MP’s Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill becomes law. We hope to see these commitments materialise over the coming weeks.
“Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation looks forward to supporting Mr Sunak and Defra to advance animal welfare in the UK. We wish him the very best in his time as Prime Minister.”
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)
