My hon. Friend, who is also a member of the Select Committee, makes a great point, and she reads my mind. My next bullet point says that a key recommendation of our Select Committee’s report is that DEFRA and the Government need to support and bolster the abattoir network in this country to extinguish the need to transport animals over long distances.
The Select Committee has also started an urgent inquiry on workforce issues in the food supply chain, which has a direct implication for animal welfare. There is a shortage of workers in many aspects of the food production sector, from vets through to abattoir workers, drivers and so on. We must take note of the fact that 95% of vets working in the meat hygiene sector are from the European Union, from outside the UK. We need to monitor and support the veterinary workforce.
The current pig crisis highlights the animal welfare and livestock farming issues we are facing in this country. We have labour shortages and an impending animal welfare crisis, and the Select Committee has taken evidence that it is building up on farms as we speak. Pigs are damming back on farms and are biting off each other’s tails and developing respiratory diseases, and sadly some pigs have started to be culled on farm.
I welcome what the Government have said so far about trying to mitigate against such culls. As a vet I spent a very sad period supervising the cull of farm animals on farm during the foot and mouth crisis. Those farm animals were then not destined for the food supply chain. I can tell the House how upsetting that is for vets, farmers, slaughter workers and everyone else, not least as a senseless waste of food. We must make sure that we mitigate against such culls at all costs.