Liz Truss may ‘sacrifice animal welfare in bonfire of red tape’, warns government food tsar

Ditching ban on live exports and ambition to cut meat-eating would be madness, says Henry Dimbleby

A leading government adviser has warned the prime minister not to sacrifice animal welfare in a bonfire of red tape.

Food guru Henry Dimbleby warned it would be madness to ditch the Tories’ long-promised ban on live exports, which was made possible by Brexit.

And he revealed he clashed with Ms Truss while she was trade secretary over the UK’s trade deal with Australia, which routinely carries out mulesing – when workers shear off the skin of young lambs around their backsides. It is carried out without anaesthetic or pain relief and has been repeatedly condemned as cruel.

Mr Dimbleby, a non-executive board member at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and author of the government’s national food strategy, said he feared for Britain’s “hard-fought” reputation as a world leader in animal welfare in the face of the government’s agenda for growth and deregulation.

Animal-welfare organisations, including the RSPCA, have warned the UK is on the verge of a “great animal-abandonment scandal” under Ms Truss.

Under the influence of right-wingers including Jacob Rees-Mogg, ministers have already ditched plans to ban imports of foie gras and fur, and some insiders say the Kept Animals Bill, which ends live exports, is also under threat.

Mr Dimbleby said: “Our prime minister has made no secret of her liberalising, anti-red-tape instincts. I like to think that, as an entrepreneur and former restaurant CEO, I too am on the side of growth.

“But I don’t believe that anyone – farmers, the food industry, the British public – wants to see animal welfare sacrificed on the bonfire of red tape.”

The Bill, which was promised in both the Tory manifesto and the party’s grand animal welfare action plan, also bans primates as pets, tackles puppy smuggling and gives livestock greater protection from dangerous dogs.

It has been in parliamentary limbo, and a petition to revive it has been signed nearly 90,000 times.

The cruel and unnecessary practice of live animal transport was rightly a manifesto commitment for this government and it is one they must not renege on

Henry Dimbleby

The founder of “healthy fast-food chain” Leon said: “This law has been in the making for literally decades.

“The cruel and unnecessary practice of live animal transport was rightly a manifesto commitment for this government and it is one they must not renege on. We have a global reputation on animal welfare that has been hard earned, it would be madness to trash it.”

Chris Sherwood, chief executive of the RSPCA, said: “We’re deeply concerned that the UK is on the verge of a great animal abandonment scandal.”

He added: “There’s a real concern that the government is now failing to prioritise animals at all.

“The consequences of this could be massive, and we share Henry Dimbleby’s concerns that, in her ideological pursuits, animal welfare could be forgotten by this new leadership.”

The RSPCA has slammed “the government’s failure to act”, which it says means hopes of more ambitious plans, such as implementing targets to reduce meat consumption are unlikely.

Mr Dimbleby’s food review last year called for the government to commit to a 30 per cent cut in meat consumption.

He called for the government to cut the amount of farmland used to feed livestock, currently 85 per cent, to reduce carbon emissions.

The Independent has asked the government to respond.