Animal Welfare Strategy Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Wera Hobhouse
Main Page: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)Department Debates - View all Wera Hobhouse's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(1 day, 12 hours ago)
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Emma Reynolds
I reassure my hon. Friend that we are looking at this issue, and there will be further details in the strategy.
Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)
Merry Christmas, Mr Speaker. May I thank you for signing the Christmas card of my young constituent, who was the winner of our Christmas card competition? When I gave it back to her, she was thrilled.
I had the pleasure of visiting the Lush store in Bath. Lush has been a leading advocate for ending animal testing, championing cruelty-free science and cosmetics, and investing in innovative and humane alternatives. The Secretary of State has partly answered the question on the “Replacing animals in science” strategy, but of course it will be closely linked to the animal welfare strategy. Will she commit to any strategy that is published being backed up by primary legislation, with legally binding targets and timelines for ending animal testing and cruelty?
Emma Reynolds
As I said in response to a previous question, this is a DSIT lead, not a DEFRA lead. We do work closely with DSIT, and as a Labour Government, we are committed to phasing out animal testing as quickly as possible, but obviously we need alternatives to be in place to do so.