Cages banBill backed

A bill which would ban the use of cages for commercial egg-laying hens is being backed by an East Renfrewshire MP.

Kirsten Oswald is supporting ‘Beatrice’s Bill’, also known as the Hen Caging (Prohibition) Bill, a Private Members’ Bill which was launched in September 2021 to prohibit the caging of commercially reared, egglaying hens and pullets.

The Bill was named after the rescue hen at the centre of a campaign coordinated by a range of groups, including the Humane League and the RSPCA.

The use of battery cages for hens was banned across the UK in 2012, but the ban did not extend to ‘enriched’ cages.

Those cages are larger than conventional battery cages, but still do not allow adequate space for the hens’ natural behaviours.

According to animal charity Onekind, around two million hens in Scotland are kept in enriched cages for their entire lives.

Ending the use of cages for hens will secure numerous benefits, including higher welfare standards and greater consumer confidence through lowering food safety risk as cage free hens suffer from lower rates of diseases.

Ms Oswald MP said:“I have pledged my support for #BeatricesBill, the campaign to end the use of cages for commercial egg-laying hens across the UK.

“We must act now and end the suffering of the millions of hens who are kept in these cages each year, with hardly enough room to stretch their wings.

“By ending this suffering, our legislation can be more closely aligned with the sentiment of retailers, many of whom have already stopped selling eggs from caged hens, and the general public, who are calling in large numbers for an end to the use of cages.”