Brexit reset 'puts animal welfare victories at risk'

LORD Goldsmith has slammed Sir Keir Starmer's UK-EU reset for undoing the Tories' hard-fought Brexit victories on animal welfare.

- By Steph Spyro

The environmentalist and ex-minister warned that a "troubling commitment" in the agreement means any deviation from EU food standards must not "negatively affect European Union animals and goods being placed on the market" in the UK.

The former Tory MP said: "This seemingly technical clause has profound implications for animal welfare and our ability to raise our own standards, something that we fought so hard to achieve with Brexit.

"Among other things it likely means the UK cannot restrict imports of animal products that fail to meet our welfare standards, even when we've banned those same practices domestically."

Exceptions

Lord Goldsmith claimed around 50% of UK pork imports come from EU countries still using sow stalls — narrow metal cages Britain banned in the 1990s because they were considered to be cruel.