Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps are being taken to secure a carve out for animal welfare in the SPS agreement.

The Government shares the British public's high regard for animal welfare and will look to raise standards further through our recently published Animal Welfare Strategy.

As announced at the UK-EU Leaders' Summit on 19 May 2025, the UK and EU have agreed to work towards a common Sanitary and Phytosanitary Area. The EU has accepted there will need to be a number of areas where we need to retain our own rules. Negotiations with the EU on the SPS agreement are underway and we cannot provide an ongoing commentary on these discussions, but we are clear about the importance of being able to set high animal welfare standards.