This means we could be one step close to a debate on the issue and how UK legislation can protect animals when we finally leave the EU.

We are encouraged by the continued attention towards ensuring public money spent on farming should deliver public goods – including improving our air, water, soils and wildlife, and ensuring sustainable, and most importantly, humane food production.

The UK has some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world, but it is important legislation reflects and protects this. The current legislation is not strong enough.We are asking for the bill to ensure future trade deals do not allow our high standards to drop. We cannot allow low welfare products into the UK or our conditions to drop.

New national legislation holds hope for animals, but work is still to be done

Now that we have left the European Union we need to start implementing national legislation to replace many of our laws that were covered by EU directives.  The Common Agriculture Policy now needs to be replaced with new national legislation - and that is the Agriculture Bill.

This Bill has spent considerable time being developed and debated in the chambers of Parliament so that it can be improved as much as possible. On the 10th June the second reading of the Bill will happen in the House of Lords allowing for debate.

The current draft of the Agriculture Bill is promising. We particularly welcome the reconfirmed emphasis that public money spent on farming should deliver public goods – including improving our air, water, soils and wildlife, and ensuring sustainable, and most importantly, humane food production. But, it is vital that the strong environmental and welfare credentials within the Bill are not diluted as it progresses.

The Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and Government ministers have all expressed the need to retain the animal welfare standards we have in the UK, which are some of the highest in the world, but yet there is nothing in the legislation to ensure that this happens. We are imploring with the House of Lords to the reject the Bill as it stands until we have it in writing that we ensure all future trade deals maintain or improve environmental and animal welfare requirements, and that we do not allow for poor quality and low welfare animal products to come into the UK.

We will be keeping up the pressure and hope you will too to ensure we can all do our bit to #BetterDealforAnimals.

We will be keeping up the pressure and hope you will too.