End the Cage Age for all farmed animals
109,820 people signed this petition to the UK Parliament after it opened on 5 August 2021; it closed on 5 February 2022. The Government responded on 20 August 2021. MPs debated it in Westminster Hall on 20 June 2022.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
End the Cage Age for all farmed animals
Every year across the UK, millions of farmed animals are kept in cages, unable to express their natural behaviours and experiencing huge suffering. These inhumane systems cannot be the future of British farming. The UK Government must legislate to ‘End the Cage Age’ for all farmed animals.
The European Commission plans to ban cages for all farmed animals, potentially by 2027, and will also look to prohibit the import of food from caged systems. This would result in the UK lagging behind the EU and may add bureaucracy to trade with the UK’s largest export market - possibly damaging the whole British farming sector.
The UK Government must work to secure by 2027, across the UK, a ban on the use of:
-barren, enriched and ‘combi’ cages
-farrowing crates for sows
-individual calf pens
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 20 August 2021; the petitions site lists the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as responsible. Its summary:
The Government is committed to improving farm animal welfare standards and is currently exploring options for introducing further reforms, including phasing out the use of cages in farming.
The opening 344 words of the 631-word response:
The Government shares the public’s high regard for animal welfare. We are delivering a series of ambitious reforms, as outlined in the Action Plan for Animal Welfare which was published in May this year: Action Plan for Animal Welfare - (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/action-plan-for-animal-welfare). One of the ways we wish to improve the welfare of farm animals is strengthening protections against animal confinement. We are actively exploring options for UK food system and this includes phasing out the use of cages.
We have a strong track record for raising the bar when it comes to farm animal welfare standards, such as banning battery cages for laying hens and close confinement stalls for pigs. The UK banned sow stalls in 1999, whereas it was not until 2013 that a partial ban on sow stalls was introduced across the rest of the EU. Whatever the system of production, the most important factor in determining animal welfare is good stockmanship and the correct application of husbandry standards. This reflects the advice of our expert body, the Animal Welfare Committee (AWC).
Since the 2012 EU ban on the use of conventional (“battery”) cages for laying hens (in establishments with 350 or more laying hens), 55% of UK egg production is now free range, more than any country in the EU, with the rest in ‘enriched’ colony cages (40%), barn (2%), or organic (3%) systems. We recognise the ‘enriched’ colony cage system restricts a bird’s ability to exhibit normal behaviours, which is why we are examining all options for cage reform.
The UK is ahead of most other EU pig producing countries in terms of non-confinement farrowing, with approximately 40% of UK sows housed outside and free farrowed (crate-free), whilst 60% are housed in farrowing crates to give birth and nurse their piglets. Defra’s code of practice for the welfare of pigs, published in March 2020, clearly states that the aim is for farrowing crates to no longer be necessary and for any new system to protect the welfare of the sow, as well as her piglets: Pigs: on-farm welfare - (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pigs-on-farm-welfare).
Read the full response on the petitions site.
Where the signatures came from
Signatures came from 650 constituencies on the boundaries used until the 2024 general election. The largest number, 412, came from Torridge and West Devon.
108,660 of the signatures were from the UK and 1,160 from elsewhere, by the location signers gave.
| Constituency | Signatures |
|---|---|
| Torridge and West Devon | 412 |
| Totnes | 410 |
| Central Devon | 399 |
| Wealden | 378 |
| Isle of Wight | 375 |
| St Ives | 375 |
| Somerton and Frome | 374 |
| Hastings and Rye | 373 |
| Stroud | 373 |
| Arundel and South Downs | 370 |
| Region | Signatures |
|---|---|
| South East | 19,597 |
| South West | 14,184 |
| East of England | 11,201 |
| London | 10,896 |
| North West | 10,589 |
| West Midlands | 7,933 |
| East Midlands | 7,412 |
| Scotland | 7,337 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 7,252 |
| Wales | 5,646 |
| North East | 3,460 |
| Northern Ireland | 1,184 |
Debate in Parliament
MPs debated the petition in Westminster Hall on 20 June 2022. Read the debate in Hansard. House of Commons Library debate pack.
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/593775.jsonUK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
66777150c1bcc757… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
The petition's words are its creator's and the response is the Government's; this site quotes both and gives no view on either. Signature counts can still change while a petition is open. To report an error, send a correction request.