Terry Jermy

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I thank the hon. Member for Waveney Valley (Adrian Ramsay), my constituency neighbour, for securing this much-needed and timely debate. It is one that I called for in the Chamber several weeks ago, so I am pleased to be here today. There was recently outrage and shock about footage from a Lincolnshire farm, where the abuse of animals was caught on film. I was glad that supermarkets took a stand, suspended their trade with that farm and confirmed that they regard such abuse as unacceptable. However, it is particularly saddening and concerning that that was not a one-off case or an outlier. Sadly, we see such animal abuse time and again at various locations across the country, including in my own county of Norfolk. It has been made clear today that animal welfare comes in various forms, from imports to labelling and intensive farming, a subject I am passionate about. It is clear that we need to rethink animal welfare policy, and intensive farming is a particular concern for me. Freedom of information requests that I have submitted to the Environment Agency have shown that in the past decade, industrial farms have breached regulations more than 7,000 times. That is 7,000 breaches of regulations in less than a decade. It is clear that the whole regulatory system is currently completely toothless. For example, one farm operated by a large corporation has been found to be stocking more than 400,000 animals, instead of the permitted 357,000. Evidence suggests that regulatory nonconformity is the norm, yet regulators are taking enforcement action only in a tiny minority of cases. Rather than feeling the pressure to comply, intensive livestock companies are being invited to wield significant influence over public policy. Intensive farming practices are on the rise. Between 2016 and 2023, there was a 20% increase in the number of intensive livestock units in the UK. Now, about 80% of broiler chickens are reared in fully housed, intensive systems. A process of consolidation and industrialisation of farming has seen more than 100,000 livestock and poultry farms go out of business between 1990 and 2016. It is no wonder that so many small farms in my constituency are nervous about speaking out against the big boys. The Minister might be pleased to know that I did not intend to mention the Methwold mega-farm today. However, seeing as it was mentioned by the hon. Member for Waveney Valley, I will bring it up. I am delighted that it was rejected due to what was very much a joint effort among local residents, charities and elected representatives, from councillors to myself, as an MP. It is true that it was rejected in part over animal welfare concerns, but importantly, the effect on the environment and climate played a role as well. In Norfolk, the environment is crucial to our economy. It is suggested that if I am against intensive farming I am anti-growth, but tourism is worth more to us in Norfolk than it is in Cornwall; it is crucial to local jobs. Intensive farming impacts jobs in our county—