Jessica Corbett,
CommonDreams.org
February 2018
No animal should be treated cruelly or made to suffer unnecessary pain.... The goal of the plan is to make the UK a world leader on animal welfare.
Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn is startled by Cody the Dachshund during a
campaign event outside the James Paget Hospital on May, 13, 2017 in Great
Yarmouth, England. (Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Animal welfare advocates are celebrating a new detailed plan unveiled
Wednesday by Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party in the UK that aims to improve the
lives of domesticated pets, laboratory and farm animals, and those in the
wild.
"We wholeheartedly welcome the proposals in the animal welfare strategy
announced today by Labour. These are developments for which we have
campaigned tirelessly for years," said Michelle Thew, CEO of Cruelty Free
International. "It shows great progress that one of the major political
parties is now committed to a positive plan for ending the suffering of
animals in laboratories."
"We particularly welcome commitments to stop live exports, empower consumers
with mandatory meat labeling, stop routine preventative use of antibiotics,
and use post-Brexit subsidies to move away from intensive factory farming
and bad environmental practices," said Emma Slawinski, director of campaigns
at Compassion in World Farming. "This could be the beginning of the end of
cruel factory farming."
"No animal should be treated cruelly or made to suffer unnecessary
pain," tweeted Corbyn, adding that the goal of the plan is to "make the UK a
world leader on animal welfare."
"The 50-point plan would be a comprehensive new approach to animal welfare
if Labour came to power," The Guardian notes. "The proposals are in part a
response to the Brexit negotiations, which Labour fears could lead to lower
standards in food production, and to recent revelations on the conditions
inside UK slaughterhouses and the expansion of the badger cull."
The Party shared a video that introduces the plan to the public and solicits
feedback from constituents.
In addition to calling for the appointment of an Animal Welfare Commissioner, who would monitor pending legislation and foreign negotiations that would impact animals as well as stay updated on scientific research on animal welfare, the platform calls for:
Shadow Environment Secretary Sue Hayman, who appeared in the party's video, headed to a hospital run by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) for the plan's launch on Wednesday.
Others members of the party and advocates for animal welfare expressed their support for the plan on social media.
Return to Animal Rights Articles