Esther McVey

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to introduce compulsory labelling of halal and kosher meat and products containing halal and kosher meat; and for connected purposes. I am reintroducing this Bill following the considerable support it received when it was previously brought to the House, as the concerns about lack of consumer choice, animal welfare and transparency have not gone away. I therefore hope the House forgives me for repeating much of what I said last time, as the arguments for the Bill have not changed and remain compelling. This Bill does not seek to ban halal or kosher meat; it seeks to introduce clear compulsory labelling so that consumers know exactly what they are purchasing. Every consumer has a right to make an informed choice, yet that choice is currently undermined by the lack of clear information, leaving consumers unaware that the meat they are purchasing and consuming may be halal or kosher. Currently, labelling arrangements are voluntary and inconsistent. The Bill would address that gap by introducing clear and compulsory labelling, giving consumers the information they need to make the choices that reflect their beliefs, values and dietary requirements. Some people particularly want to buy halal or kosher meat; other people particularly want to avoid buying it. This Bill will benefit both those groups. To produce halal and kosher meat, an animal’s throat is cut at the point of slaughter. In the case of halal meat, the animal is often stunned before it is killed, although it may not be. Under the shechita method used to produce kosher meat, there is no pre-stunning. For many consumers, whether an animal was stunned before slaughter is an important animal welfare consideration, and what began as a limited religious exemption has become an increasingly significant part of the meat market. The Government’s own figures show that, of the approximately 1 billion animals processed in England and Wales in 2024, an estimated 215 million were slaughtered to produce halal meat. On those numbers, what was meant to be an exemption—an exception—is certainly not one. Government guidance is clear that meat resulting from non-stunned slaughter must be intended for consumption by Jews or Muslims, but production is clearly going way beyond that. Alarmingly, the United Kingdom now exports halal meat overseas. Between 2018 and 2019, there was an almost 700% increase in sheepmeat exported to the United Arab Emirates. Consumers are increasingly interested in how meat is produced, and those concerned about animal welfare want to know whether an animal has been stunned before slaughter. Equally, some people wish to know whether meat has been prepared according to a particular religious rite. None of these positions is unreasonable. The important point is that consumers should have the information they need to make an informed choice. The legislation regulating animal slaughter is currently set out in the assimilated EU regulation 1099/2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing, together with the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (England) Regulations 2015. Under those provisions, animals must generally be stunned before slaughter, although exemptions exist for slaughter carried out in accordance with specific religious observance. However, while the law provides an exemption for stunning requirements, it does not require meat produced under those exemptions to be labelled. As a result, consumers are often left without information that they would regard as highly relevant to their purchasing decisions. The Government have previously stated that consumers should be able to make an informed choice about the food they buy, yet informed choice is possible only when relevant information is available. In the absence of mandatory labelling, consumers are frequently unaware whether the meat they have purchased had been produced under a religious exemption, or whether the animal was stunned before slaughter. That cannot be described as meaningful consumer choice. The lack of compulsory labelling has helped create what is in effect a two-tier system in the industry. Some slaughterhouses comply with the general requirement to stun animals before slaughter, while others operate under the religious exemption. Currently, some of the UK’s largest retailers, including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Asda, sell halal or kosher meat without informing consumers. Takeaway outlets such as Domino’s, Pizza Hut and KFC serve it without consumers being made aware. Non-stunned meat is also served in schools by 17 local councils, the majority of which are not Islamic faith schools, meaning that parents and pupils may have had no idea what children were eating. It is also being served in UK hospitals, where patients do not know what they are eating. In late 2024, the Labour Government published their animal welfare strategy, which claimed to set out a comprehensive agenda for improving animal welfare. It addressed issues such as boiling of live lobsters, carbon dioxide stunning of pigs and the treatment of farmed fish, yet despite spanning more than 12,500 words, the strategy made no reference to the slaughter of animals without prior stunning and contained no proposal for clearer labelling of halal and kosher meat. If animal welfare is a genuine priority for this Government, that cannot be overlooked, and without that a strategy presented as a landmark contribution to animal welfare is certainly not one. Public support for greater transparency is overwhelming. “Food and You 2”, a biannual official statistical survey commissioned by the Food Standards Agency, found that the most common spontaneously expressed food concern in 2024 was “food production method”. In August 2022, almost 99% of respondents to the Government’s call for evidence on labelling for animal welfare said that a method of slaughter labelling should be introduced. In research from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, 92% of halal consumers stated that clear halal certification is important. Is it not time that we updated our regulations, and demanded that our meat was clearly and fully labelled? Surely that is what consumer choice is all about. I would wager that the overwhelming majority of animal lovers in the UK expect the House of Commons to support this Bill, which will improve animal welfare and provide choice. I urge all Members of the House to support it. Question put and agreed to. Ordered, That Esther McVey, Sir Roger Gale, Alberto Costa, Dame Karen Bradley, Sir Edward Leigh, Graham Stringer, Rupert Lowe, Sammy Wilson, Jim Allister, Lee Anderson and Sarah Pochin present the Bill. Esther McVey accordingly presented the Bill. Bill read the first time; to be read a second time on Friday 15 January 2027, and to be printed (Bill 171).