§ Sue DoughtyTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when Ministers from her Department last raised EU obstacles to the ban of live exports and their replacement by meat exports in the Council of Ministers; and if she will make a statement. [46551]
§ Mr. ConnartyTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions she has had with her European counterparts on the abolition of long distance transportation of live farm animals throughout the European Union. [47421]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Government have been consistent in its preference for meat to be exported rather than live animals for slaughter. Two judgments of the European Court of Justice have made it clear that the UK does not have the legal powers to introduce a unilateral ban on live exports. The Government have continued to press for better enforcement and stronger rules on the welfare of animals during transport. In the June 2001 Agriculture Council my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, supported a unanimous resolution that specifically invited the Commission to report on options for reducing long distance transport of animals for slaughter. In the November 2001 Agriculture Council my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, called on the Commission to make their promised proposals on the protection of animals during transport.