BSE caused widespread trauma to farmers in the UK. Ever since the EU has used this dark period in British farming history to impose severe regulation on UK farmers. Our standards are some of the highest in Europe. With the EU controlling animal feed legislation this means the UK must rely entirely on Brussels to make sure such an event never takes place again. Similarly as UK consumers are sold imported foreign meat they too leave their health in Brussels’ hands.

If a similar catastrophe as the BSE crisis occurred again, next time it would be Europe wide and the effects, far more devastating. It is important for the UK agricultural industry to lay down its’ own regulations and learn from mistakes from the past. For this reason I have voted against this legislation