IT IS true that Britain is a nation of animal lovers, with more than half (57 per cent) of households owning a pet – so I fully support this government in delivering the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation.

Animals have quite rightly taken centre stage in recent weeks, Labour MP Sarah Owen continues to champion a Fireworks Bill. I agree that we must find a balance between the joy that fireworks can bring and the distress caused by the explosives which break noise limits - often in multiple unmanaged displays.

As borne out from the correspondence I receive from constituents every week, animal welfare is a sensitive and emotive issue – and I support this government investing £75-million on world-leading science, research and data to help phase out animal testing.

We’ve worked with life sciences, business and animal welfare organisations, to develop a roadmap and one of the most comprehensive strategies in the world to replace certain animal tests, whenever we can.

By working in tandem with partners, backing researchers with new funding and streamlining regulation, the plan will enable teams to pivot safely to methods like organ-on-a-chip systems – tiny devices that mimic how human organs work using real human cells. We also want to explore the further use of AI and 3D bioprinted tissues.

UK law states that animals cannot be used in scientific research if there is a working, non-animal way of answering the question and we are not quite there yet so with full transparency we will have to use some animals when absolutely necessary – to determine the safety of products like life-saving vaccines and the impact chemicals like pesticides can have on living beings and the environment. 

But while there is always more to do, I am pleased to have supported actions to improve welfare for a wide range of animals – a Noah’s Ark, if you will…

I am right behind this government’s planned ban on trail hunting and the import of hunting trophies; as well as putting an end to puppy smuggling and farming, and the use of snare traps.

I am also pleased to learn recently that Labour MP Ruth Jones introduced a bill to ban the import and sale of fur – an industry that kills tens of millions of animals worldwide. Fur farming was banned in the UK over 20 years ago because Parliament and the public deemed it too cruel. If it is too cruel to produce here, it is too cruel to sell here.

On top of that, I support the ban on fox hunting and the government’s strategy to eradicate bovine tuberculosis and to bring the badger cull to an end by the end of this Parliament. I am also pleased that ministers are carefully reviewing the use of cages and close confinement systems for farmed animals, pair housing of calves and further supporting the use of free range.

There is always more we can do to improve animal welfare, but I am confident that in less than 18 months this government has made significant progress.