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What does Brexit mean for animal welfare?

Whilst there is a whole list of Donald Rumsfeld known unknowns to be sorted out before the UK can trigger Article 50, let alone leave the EU, we do have a certain amount of clarity on the scale of the issue facing us on animal welfare.

August 2016

Around 80% of UK animal welfare legislation originates from the EU with some 44 different laws agreed over the past 42 years. The largest number cover farm animals, some 17 EU laws directly setting standards on the way farm animals are reared and produced, transported and slaughtered or the way consumers know how their meat and eggs are produced. And, then there are the eleven laws covering wildlife.

The legislation at greatest risk are probably those wildlife laws not connected to Treaties which meet their objectives by imposing trade bans. Ironically this includes the wild caught bird ban which has just celebrated its tenth birthday, one of the most successful EU laws and a fairly unique law in that it overnight achieved its objective of stopping birds being traded with the inherent welfare and conservation benefits.

Then there is the knotty question of how to ensure a law works well. The UK does have its own membership of six Council of Europe Conventions which set animal welfare standards but we all know the problems of ensuring sanctions occur to ensure these standards are met. Replacing the role traditionally taken by the European Court of Justice, if that is where we end up, may be a tough ask.

Thirteen of EU animal welfare laws are in the form of directives, already implemented into existing UK legislation and so would need to be overturned if they are no longer required. These could have more protection than the 31 Regulations and Decisions, which are applicable to the UK without national implementation. But we just don’t know. The status of the laws in UK legislation will be clearer once a decision is made on whether we transfer all the acquis over in one piece and then go through them law by law. This could be a long process well beyond the two year negotiating period once Article 50 is triggered but with the Law Commission Wildlife Bill due in the autumn, reviewing legislation that goes back to the Victorian era on how we manage some wildlife species, discussions could occur sooner than we think.

Finally there is the money - last year British farmers received nearly €3.5 billion in subsidies from Europe of which only around 10% was used to help improve conservation and protect habitats and less than 0.1% used directly to help animal welfare. We can now decide how these subsidies will be spent and if they should be used to fund, for instance, animal welfare assurance schemes or farming at higher standards.

So there are opportunities here as well as improving animal welfare standards such as in slaughterhouses and transporting animals. As time progresses things will become clearer but it is vital if we are to save what we have and improve what we want, that we all work together. Conservation, countryside, animal welfare - we all need to find one voice.

David Bowles

Assistant Director Public Affairs and Campaigns, RSPCA

Find David on Twitter @DavidBowles21

Aspects of this blog were originally published on the RSPCA's website

The opinions expressed in this blog are the author’s and not necessarily those of the wider Link membership