Labour fails everyone on animal welfare

Animal rights campaigners have accused the Labour Government of dragging its feet on animal welfare, after failing to deliver a string of high-profile pledges nearly a year into its term.

Before the election Steve Reed, now environment secretary, promised what he called “the biggest boost for animal welfare in a generation”, including bans on snare traps, trail-hunting and the importation of hunting trophies. Those headline promises remain unfulfilled, prompting frustration from activists.

Criticism from animal rights campaigners

Claire Bass of Humane World for Animals UK criticised ministers for failing to find “parliamentary time to introduce the promised stronger protections for animals”, while Animal Equality UK’s Abigail Penny claimed public trust in Labour is “dwindling” and called for urgent action to meet “public will”.

While the Government has backed a Lib Dem MP’s bill to curb low-welfare imports of puppies and kittens, and a Conservative MP’s bill to strengthen laws against livestock worrying, it has yet to bring forward its own flagship legislation.

Defra’s response

Defra defended its record, pointing to “ambitious plans” already underway and promising a comprehensive animal welfare strategy later this year. But for many in the countryside, activists’ demands for urgency miss the bigger picture. Far from a lack of progress, rural communities have seen wave after wave of new regulations – including the recent lead ammunition ban, set to come into force by 2029 – each bringing cultural and practical consequences for country sports and rural livelihoods.

Strategy must be based on “science and evidence”, says the Countryside Alliance

James Legge, director of public affairs at the Countryside Alliance, said it “has a proud record of supporting policies that genuinely improve the welfare of animals, whether domestic or wild”, noting its backing for measures to tackle livestock worrying, address puppy smuggling and replace older snares with modern, humane devices. He added the group also recognises “the need to ban lead” and supported those reforms.

But he warned Labour’s promised strategy “must be based on science and evidence and genuine engagement with those who manage animals and wildlife on the ground”.

“The Government should not repeat the mistake of the Hunting Act, a clear example of bad legislation based on prejudice, not principle and evidence, and which has done nothing to improve animal welfare, quite the contrary,” he added.

That measured approach is widely shared across rural Britain, where many are keen to see genuine improvements in welfare but believe change must be based on evidence, reflect lived experience and avoid rushing through reforms that risk undermining the people and traditions that sustain countryside life.