{"id":329021,"date":"2025-12-22T01:38:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T01:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/329021\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T01:38:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T01:38:11","slug":"ban-on-pig-and-chicken-cages-another-blow-for-british-farmers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/329021\/","title":{"rendered":"Ban on pig and chicken cages \u2018another blow for British farmers\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

A move to ban cages for chickens and pigs could threaten British farming if not matched by higher welfare standards for imported meat, industry figures have warned. <\/p>\n

Ministers have laid out plans to ban colony cages, which are used to hold dozens of chickens, and farrowing crates, which enclose sows after they have given birth, in a flagship animal welfare strategy.
But there are fears it could lead to British farmers being undercut, as both practices remain legal in countries \u00adexporting meat to Britain, including Poland, Spain and Ireland. The EU has pledged to phase out caged farming by 2027, but progress has been slow. <\/p>\n

Tom Bradshaw, the president of the National Farmers\u2019 Union, said: \u201cIf the government proposes raising domestic animal welfare standards further it must also take steps to ensure consumers are protected from imported food that could be produced to lower \u00adstandards, and that British farmers are not asked to compete with imports produced at those lower standards which would be illegal for them to work to.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Scotland hatches plan to ban using caged hens in egg production<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have long called for a set of core standards for food imported into the UK; it must meet the same production standards as asked of our farmers. It is what the British people expect and it\u2019s time a system of core standards was properly established in UK law.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no baseline animal welfare standard for meat imported \u00adinto Britain. Ministers insisted that the changes would help farmers to create a \u201cproductive, profitable and sustainable future for farming\u201d. They said the \u00adgovernment would assess whether overseas produce had an unfair advantage and \u201cany \u00adimpact that may have\u201d. <\/p>\n

They added that \u201cwhere necessary\u201d ministers would be \u201cprepared to use the full range of powers at our disposal to protect our most sensitive sectors including permanent quotas, exclusions and safeguards\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Sows<\/p>\n

Sows and piglets in farrowing crates<\/p>\n

ALAMY<\/p>\n

However, Victoria Atkins, the shadow environment secretary, claimed \u00adLabour was \u201cfavouring foreign farmers over British farmers by allowing substandard foreign imports to undercut our already high welfare standards\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cLabour have snuck this announcement out just before Christmas to avoid scrutiny, because they know that this will be another hammerblow to farming profitability,\u201d she said. \u201cOnce again they have shown that they simply don\u2019t care about rural Britain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Times View: The government must win back the trust of farmers<\/a><\/p>\n

Ministers have so far resisted watering down food standards, with \u00adhormone-treated beef excluded from a tariff-free agreement signed earlier this year with the US. But there are fears further concessions may be made, with President Trump reportedly pushing Sir Keir Starmer to allow American \u00adchlorinated chicken to be sold in British supermarkets in return for reviving a \u00a331 billion tech partnership.<\/p>\n

Alongside stricter farming regulations, the government\u2019s animal welfare strategy will seek to end the practice of puppy farming by requiring all dog breeders to be licensed. Currently \u00adlicences are only required for those breeding three or more litters per year.<\/p>\n

\"English<\/p>\n

It is illegal to breed dogs in tightly confined spaces<\/p>\n

ALAMY<\/p>\n

While it is illegal to breed dozens of dogs in tightly confined spaces, research by the Naturewatch Foundation suggests the practice is widespread. The organisation estimates licensed breeders account for less than a fifth of the million dogs that arrive in British homes every year, suggesting that many come from illicit large-scale farms posing as small-scale breeders. <\/p>\n

Also banned will be trail hunting, which involves laying a scent trail for hunters to follow. The government \u00adcited concerns that the practice was a \u201csmokescreen\u201d for illegal fox hunting. <\/p>\n

Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary said: \u201cWe\u2019re a nation of animal lovers. This government is \u00addelivering the most ambitious animal welfare strategy in a generation.<\/p>\n

\"Protesters<\/p>\n

Protesters hold a banner against trail hunting<\/p>\n

VUK VALCIC\/ZUMA PRESS WIRE<\/p>\n

\u201cOur strategy will raise welfare standards for animals in the home, on the farm and in the wild. We\u2019ve already acted to improve zoo standards, end puppy smuggling and protect livestock from dog attacks. Now, we\u2019re planning to ban caged hens, cruel snares, trail hunting, and curb low welfare dog breeding.\u201d <\/p>\n

But Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, accused the government of harbouring an \u201cobsession\u201d with hunting.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Trail hunting under fire after \u2018illegal killing\u2019 of fox in Cumbria<\/a><\/p>\n

He said: \u201cAnimal rights activists have spent 20 years making increasingly spurious claims about the legal activity of hunts without any evidential basis. Trail hunting is a legal activity which supports hundreds of jobs and is central to many rural communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially after its attack on family farms, the government should be focusing on addressing issues that actually help rural communities thrive, rather than pursuing divisive policies that hinder them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government\u2019s own figures show that more people have been convicted under the Hunting Act than any other piece of wildlife legislation, although only a tiny proportion of those relate to registered hunts. However unjustified it is, the law clearly works. There is absolutely no reason to revisit it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labour said: \u201cThe Conservatives failed to spend \u00a3300 million of the agriculture budget and sold out our farmers in trade deals with New Zealand and Australia as Michael Gove, former DEFRA Secretary of State, admitted to Conservative Party conference this year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A move to ban cages for chickens and pigs could threaten British farming if not matched by higher…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-329021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}