Can post-Brexit Britain ban live animal exports?

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2020

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Britain is looking to ban the export of live animals for slaughter and fattening after its existing trade arrangement with the European Union lapse at the end of this year. Natasha Smith of Compassion in World Farming, who have campaigned on this for decades, explains why they’re against the practice. Meanwhile UK minister Craig Mackinlay says leaving the EU’s trade rules after Brexit is key to getting the ban implemented. But will the ban run afoul of WTO free trade rules? Emily Rees of consultancy Trade Strategies breaks down the rules and whether the ban fits. But what do UK farmers think? Phil Stocker of the National Sheep Association says this ban overshoots, and puts farmers already in an unclear position because of Brexit, even more on the back foot. And Francesca Porta of the Brussels-based Eurogroup for Animals explains what changes might be coming in the EU itself on live animal transport.

Producer: Frey Lindsay.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC with me, Manuela Saragossa. Coming up, the
0:07.4	transport of live farm animals for slaughter. It's not a pretty business. The level of suffering is immense.
0:13.9	We're talking potentially days of dehydration, exhaustion, hunger, animals struggling in extreme temperatures. This is a cruel trade that must be
0:23.5	stopped. And the UK intends to do exactly that with Brexit, at least when it comes to British
0:29.4	exports of live animals. It would make the UK the first European country to put in place a ban
0:34.7	of its kind. But will World Trade Organisation rules allow that?
0:39.1	And what does the meat industry have to say?
0:41.4	You know, we do feel that that trade, there is a case for it to continue.
0:45.4	To just as simply to ban it, it just seems to be a bit unnecessary.
0:48.9	That's all here in Business Daily from the BBC.
1:00.4	We're going to do. This Daily from the BBC. Forced to travel for hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles,
1:04.8	animals routinely experience pain, stress, overcrowding, exhaustion and dehydration.
1:13.1	Some even die in these horrific conditions.
1:17.5	The people who filmed that belonged to a UK pressure group called Compassion in World Farming.
1:23.7	In this instance, they followed a shipment of calves.
1:27.0	At a Romanian port, we saw calves forced up steep ramps onto old ships to begin a long sea journey.
1:35.0	One calf was unable to stand and was kicked repeatedly by a worker.
1:41.5	The mass transport of live farm animals for slaughter can be an ugly, cruel business,
1:46.4	which is why Natasha Smith at Compassion for World Farming has been campaigning against it for years.
1:52.4	If people could see the level of suffering, they simply wouldn't be able to stomach it.
1:57.4	So these live export journeys can sometimes last for as long as 100 hours in total.
2:03.1	Days of dehydration, exhaustion, hunger, animals struggling in extreme temperatures, unweaned calves.
	...

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