Thanks to everyone for contacting me about Animal Welfare

Thanks to everyone for contacting me about Animal Welfare I’m very grateful that you took the time to get in touch. I am proud of Labour’s strong record on animal welfare. It was Labour who brought in the landmark Animal Welfare Act in 2006, the most comprehensive piece of animal welfare legislation for nearly a century. It is now time to update existing legislation, in order to ensure that we still have the best standards of animal welfare in the world. The current penalties for animal welfare cases in England are amongst the lowest in Europe. It is time this changed – so we support increasing of the maximum sentences for those convicted of animal cruelty. Labour is proud of legislating to ban hunting with dogs through the Hunting Act 2004 and opposes any moves by the Tories to use the valuable Parliamentary time to repeal it. As well as protecting the Hunting Act the next Labour Government will go further to strengthen animal rights across the board. We will ban the use of wild animals in circuses, introduce a total ban on the trading of ivory and prohibit the third-party sale of puppies. We are against the culling of badgers to control bovine TB, and would immediately end the ineffective and cruel badger cull, instead focusing on an evidence-based approach driven by science, not ideology. The humane treatment of all animals should be a benchmark for any civilised society. National governments have a duty to work together to fight animal cruelty across the world. Thank you again for contacting me about animal welfare. As your candidate, I am grateful for every opportunity to set out my position to you. Ultimately, this General Election is a choice between a Labour Party who will stand up for the many and a Conservative Party which only looks after the privileged few, and I hope you will consider putting your trust in me, and in Labour.