This February, I attended and spoke in the debate on Animal Welfare (Non- stun slaughter).
The debate was triggered because of an e-petition had achieved over 115,000 signatures. The petition called for an end to slaughter without pre-stunning for all animals. Currently, EU and UK law requires all animals to be pre-stunned before slaughter. Non-stun slaughter is permitted for certain groups, such as Jewish and Muslim communities; something that I wholeheartedly support. It is so important to know that our Halal meat is non-stunned and to be able to rely on the label to give us true and accurate information. I am all for labelling, but it should be thorough.
As a practising Muslim, the issues relating to religious slaughter matter to me personally and to the many thousands of my constituents who are also Muslim or Jewish. I have spent my whole life looking at labels and trying to work out whether something contains, for example, derivatives of alcohol or derivatives of pig meat. For me, labels that provide a lot of detail and information are a great thing, because they enable me to exercise choice. At the moment, when I am in doubt about something, I simply put it back, but I may be missing out on something that I could legitimately have consumed. Often, I rely on the good old V symbol on food, which shows that it is suitable for vegans and vegetarians, because I think that it must be okay for me as long as it is not a meat product. That does not help me out when it comes to meat, however.
I agree with the labelling of our meat, and I believe that all consumers in this country should have a much better idea of where our meat comes from. If we say that people should be able to make a choice, we should ensure that their choice is fully informed. If we want to shed light, we should not say that that light can extend no further than an arbitrary threshold. If we are to be champions of animal rights and animal welfare, not only in our country but across the world, we should be better informed as a nation. Detailed labelling would go a long way to supporting that.
I see no reason for us to move away from the very British way in which we have approached the matter. We have maintained the exception in law for many decades, and I hope that the Government will confirm that that exception will remain for the foreseeable future.
