The promised veterinary agreement with the European Union could put a potential foie gras ban at risk, animal protection organisations have warned.
Animal Equality UK and Animal Policy International have warned there could be negative impacts for animals under the Labour Party’s promised veterinary agreement with the EU.
In the run-up to the general election, the party pledged to “improve the UK’s trade and investment relationship with the EU”, including the establishment of a Common Veterinary Agreement, with the aim of reducing post-Brexit red tape on animal products crossing the EU-UK border.
However, without any specific exemptions, the agreement risks flooding the UK market with high volumes of products that fall below its own standards or preventing certain trade restrictions to be put in place, including a ban on foie gras produced by force feeding, which is a crime to produce in the UK, the charities said.
“Government minister Steve Reed has personally condemned this cruelty, promising an end to UK imports of this abhorrent product, yet progress has been disappointingly slow,” said Abigail Penny, executive director of Animal Equality UK. “Any action that risks or restricts an outright ban on foie gras imports would fly in the face of the Labour Party’s electoral promise and insult the animal-loving people across the UK.
“We expect this commitment to be upheld.”
This view was echoed by Mandy Carter, co-executive director of Animal Policy International, who said foie gras imports “betray British values of compassion” and therefore we should not be importing it.
“Labour has already pledged to ban foie gras imports – a promise that could be impossible to keep under a strict EU veterinary agreement,” said Carter. “Without specific protections in the agreement, we risk undoing decades of progress on animal welfare.”
The charities are urging the government and political parties to ensure any veterinary agreement includes robust carve-outs allowing the UK to enforce its own animal welfare standards, even when importing goods from the EU.
The charities are calling for “non-negotiable key assurances” from the Labour Party, including a commitment to put in place import restrictions to block products that fail to meet existing standards, mandatory labelling on UK and EU products to inform consumers of the ways in which the animals were farmed and slaughtered, and safeguarding of the UK’s live animal exports ban.
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