The UK, as part of the EU, currently enjoys some of the highest standards for farm animal welfare in the world. But these welfare standards risk being diluted or sacrificed after Brexit unless assurances given by Government ministers become firm commitments written into UK Law. This Brexit Briefing spells out the gaps in animal welfare standards between the UK and its likely future trading partners, and specifies the measures that need to be put in place to protect animal welfare – and livestock farmers – as the UK leaves the EU. It has been written by Peter Stevenson, a lawyer and leading authority on international animal welfare regulation, who is also Chief Policy Adviser to the animal welfare charity Compassion in World Farming.
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A better Brexit for farm animals: what the Government must do to protect welfare standards – Food Brexit Briefings
A better Brexit for farm animals: what the Government must do to protect welfare standards – Food Brexit Briefings
A better Brexit for farm animals: what the Government must do to protect welfare standards
Peter Stevenson
About the author
Peter Stevenson
Peter Stevenson is Chief Policy Advisor of Compassion in World Farming and is a qualified solicitor. He studied economics and law at Trinity College, Cambridge. Peter played a leading role in winning the EU bans on veal crates, battery cages and sow stalls as well as a new status for animals in EU law as sentient beings. He has written comprehensive legal analyses of EU legislation on farm animals and of the impact of the World Trade Organisation rules on animal welfare. Peter is lead author of the study by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation reviewing animal welfare legislation in the beef, pork and poultry industries. He has written well received reports on the economics of livestock production, and on the detrimental impact of industrial farming on the resources on which our future ability to feed ourselves depends.