BREXIT’S ANIMALISTS: How animal rights activists are causing huge agricultural trade problems
It is absolutely critical to make sure that this Bill finally includes enough detail to safeguard against these kinds of animal cruelties being legitimized through trade deals.
DAVID MADDOX: The UK Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill has hit the headlines for new measures which include a ban on boiling crabs and lobsters alive but are more broadly aimed to prevent cruel deaths for creatures which can think and have feelings… One of the main proposals in the legislation would be a new committee with unelected members which would have the power to scrutinise new laws and trade deals to remove measures which would breach animal rights… The government has vowed that it will have the strongest animal rights legislation in the world….
In recent evidence, Dr Penny Hawkins, head of the Animals in Science Department, Advocacy and Policy Directorate for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) said that if the law had already been in place the committee could have interfered with the recent trade deal with Australia.
When asked whether the Australian deal would have been blocked, she told MPs: “Yes, exactly. That is why it is so important to scrutinise this law, to make sure it can make a difference for animals.” “As we all know, article 13 of the [EU’s] Treaty of Lisbon itself had get-out clauses that allowed cruelty to animals to be performed if there was a cultural reason, for example”. “It is absolutely critical to make sure that this Bill finally includes enough detail to safeguard against these kinds of animal cruelties being legitimised through trade deals”…
A former minister, who did not want to be named because of concerns over reprisals from animal rights activists, said: “It’s ridiculous legislation and could harm Britain’s trade and global reach”. “The problem is that organisations like the RSPCA have been taken over by radical activists with extreme agendas and we appear to be dancing to their tune”… “We have heard how some want the proposed animal sentience committee to be able to stifle and prevent trade deals and from others that members of PETA should sit on it”…
However, deals which could be affected include a lucrative one with the USA where agriculture will be a major part of the negotiations… International trade secretary Liz Truss… recently got a deal allowing British beef to be sold in America for the first time in 20 years… and is currently working on ending an embargo on lamb but concerns have been raised by some ministers that British restrictions could have an impact on her talks… Already, there is a row over chlorine being used in America to clean chickens but the sentient bill could also impact other areas including lobster from Maine as well as beef. SOURCE…
RELATED VIDEOS: