It was good to join FOUR PAWS and the RSPCA (England & Wales) in Parliament to show my support for high animal welfare standards in trade deals.

During Parliamentary debates over the Trade Act and Agriculture Act I repeatedly pushed the Government to enshrine commitments to maintaining high animal welfare standards in all trade negotiations, only to be told by Ministers that this was ‘unnecessary’ as the Government had no intention of watering down standards.

Now, the UK has begun striking new trade deals with nations like Australia, and – to no one’s surprise – the Government has broken this verbal promise. Today’s event highlighted the cruel practice of “mulesing” of lambs, which you can read about here.

I will keep pushing for greater scrutiny over trade deals so that we do not continue to import these cruelty-linked products from abroad.