Letters: Blanket ban spin

My old sparring partner David Martin MEP (Letters, 10 May) castigates me for my view that there is no objective need for a blanket ban on animal transport of greater than eight hours, which is the scientific opinion.

It throws up an interesting question. Do we want to actually make a difference to animal welfare, or just pretend that we have?

Passing laws is easy. Politicians, especially in Brussels, do it every day. Actually enforcing the laws improves animal welfare, and that is the core problem.

I’m not interested in posturing, passing yet more laws to add to the oft ignored and flouted rules already in place.

I’m more interested in making a difference to animal welfare.

An Animal Angels report in 2007 on animal transports from Spain to Italy found that 38 out of 43 observed transports violated legislation.

Does Mr Martin seriously think that yet more red tape will help some member states which can’t, or won’t enforce the current rules?

We’re all in favour of reducing journey times for animal transport, but to achieve this will require more than just a blanket ban. We should be looking to reduce the need for long journeys, which is why I’m calling for a review of state aid for slaughterhouses.

There are a lot of decent people who care about animal welfare. I’m one of them, but I’m also realistic, and focused less on PR and spin and more on reality.

Practical support, not empty grandstanding, will solve this problem.

Alyn Smith MEP

European Parliament

Brussels