I understand and share your concern about this particular issue, and was pleased the last Government took significant steps to tackle the smuggling of horses.
For example, the Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Act 2024 banned the export of living livestock to slaughter. This ensures that no horse, pony or donkey will legally be exported from Great Britain for slaughter. This effectively made the smuggling of horses for their meat illegal in the UK, dealing a significant blow to the illegal horse smuggling industry.
Additionally, the last Conservative Government took action to improve the equine passport system. By increasing digitisation, the system is able to operate more efficiently, accurately and is more user-friendly for horse owners. This is also helping better support equine traceability for disease control, equine welfare, trade and public health.
As far as I am aware, the new Labour Government has not outlined any clear policy or detail on how they will continue the work of the last Government to tackle horse smuggling. However, I assure you I will closely follow developments in this area and support measures to robustly combat this criminal activity.
