I’m delighted to see Labour’s Animal Welfare Manifesto has been bolstered this week with the announcement of an additional £4.5 million to fight hare coursing, fox hunting and other wildlife crimes. The funding will be used to double the number of police officers tasked with prosecuting wildlife crimes from 88 to 170.

I’m particularly pleased with this pledge given I recently hosted the parliamentary launch of the Annual Wildlife Crime report that called for better resourcing due to extremely low prosecution rates. In addition to the funding, we have already committed to:

• Strengthen the Hunting Act;
• Enshrine animal sentience in law;
• End the badger cull;
• Ban trophy hunting and fur imports;
• Ban the live export of animals for slaughter;
• Stop the use of cages on British farms by 2025;
• Appoint an Animal Welfare Commissioner.