UK Government halts plans to abandon animal welfare codes

The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has reversed its decision to replace animal welfare codes governing chickens farmed for meat and breeding with “industry-led” guidance from the British Poultry Council. The proposed changes were part of the government’s deregulatory agenda, but were heavily criticised by animal charities and political opponents.

Ministers have backed down on plans to repeal farm animal welfare codes, abandoning their move to put the poultry industry in charge of the guidance on chickens that was scheduled to come into force this month.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs released a statement confirming the U-turn, saying the decision was taken “in light of views raised”.

The move to scrap the official code on farming chickens for meat and breeding was revealed last month by the Guardian, prompting an outcry from animal charities and opposition parties.

The change in favour of an “industry-led” guidance, which was to be written and supervised by the British Poultry Council, was part of the deregulatory agenda being led by Liz Truss, the environment secretary.

Other sectors that were to get control of their own guidance in future included the cattle, sheep and pig farming industries.

But a Defra spokesman said on Thursday: “We have the highest standards of animal welfare in the world, and no changes have been proposed to the legislation upholding them. We want to draw more closely on the expertise of the farming industry to ensure our welfare codes reflect the very latest scientific and veterinary developments.

“In light of views raised, we have given the matter further consideration and believe we can achieve this objective by retaining the existing statutory codes. The work of the farming industry has been invaluable and we will continue to work with them to ensure our guidance is updated to best help them to comply with our high welfare standards.”

Concerns that welfare standards could be weakened had been raised by the RSCPA and Compassion in World Farming as well as by Labour, which this week called for an urgent parliamentary debate on the changes.

Kerry McCarthy, the shadow environment secretary, wrote to Truss on Wednesday, saying: “Abolishing statutory animal welfare codes flies in the face of common sense and risks a return to dangerous days in Britain when animal welfare standards were lax and food scares were rife.

“This government has failed to keep the codes updated and now wants to wash its hands entirely of this responsibility.

“They have encouraged the industry to make its own rules but will only make this new ‘guidance’ public after the existing statutory codes have been scrapped.”

Charities welcomed the climbdown but Andrew Tyler, director of Animal Aid, said there were still concerns about a greater role for industry in writing the codes.

“We are pleased to hear that sustained campaigning pressure has compelled Defra to reverse its decision and retain the statutory element of the codes,” he said. “That means court cases stand a better chance of succeeding.

“However, our other major concern was the dominant role Defra was awarding the industry in the writing of these rulebooks on welfare.

“It’s unclear from today’s statement, whether there has been a reversal on that front. It is vital that matters of welfare and what constitutes good and bad practice, are not left to those who systematically exploit farmed animals for profit.

“Suffering and exploitation are already integral to animal farming. To deregulate and dilute what slender protection currently exists would have been monstrous.”