Richmond Park and North Kingston MP Zac Goldsmith took to the media today to counter the fake news story that MPs no longer believe animals have feelings.
He robustly put the record straight, but added that it was nevertheless a wonderful reflection on British people and their concern for animal welfare that the story – albeit a fabricated one - rose to become the biggest political story of the week.
This Conservative Government is ensuring that we have the highest levels of animal welfare in the world. In the last four months alone, it has:
-Committed to increasing the maximum sentence for those convicted of animal cruelty from 6 months to 5 years
-Made it a legal requirement for every abatoir to have CCTV installed
-Banned the ivory trade in the UK
-Committed to banning neonicotinoids; bee harming pesticides
-Moved ahead with a ban on plastic microbeads that cause so much harm to marine life.