Doubts about sentience bill

The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill has completed its report stage in the House of Lords. It is now to return to the Commons for further scrutiny and debate. The Government rejected various proposed amendments of the bill by the Lords, many of whom were critical of it. Ann Mallalieu, a Labour peer and president of the Countryside Alliance, said the Government had taken “the wholly uncontroversial issue of animal sentience… and turned it into a bureaucratic nightmare”.

The Countryside Alliance has said that the scope of the proposed Animal Sentience Committee is unclear, especially its terms of reference and make-up of its membership. Baroness Hayman, another Labour peer, highlighted this. The Countryside Alliance also expressed concern over the Government’s suggestion that it could prioritise policies based on the extent of “stakeholder or public interest”, which it said could be “a gift to animal rights campaigners”.