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Debate on an e-petition relating to the use of cages and crates for farmed animals

An e-petition calling on the government to end the use of cages and crates for all farmed animals (706302) will be debated on 16 June 2025. The debate will be held in Westminster Hall and opened by Irene Campbell MP (Labour). 

The petition was created by Dame Joanna Lumley and is open until 24 July 2025. It has, to date, received 104,860 signatures. It calls for the government to ban the use of all cages and crates for all farmed animals on animal welfare grounds, but specifically mentions: 

• cages used for laying hens 

• farrowing crates for sows (crates in which sows (mother pigs) are kept before, during, and after giving birth) 

• individual calf pens (which are used to confine young calves up to eight weeks old) 

• cages for other birds, including partridges, pheasants and quail 

The government responded to the petition on 17 February 2025 and said that the “use of cages and other close confinement systems for farmed animals is an issue we are currently considering very carefully.” The government expressed caution about introducing new standards that may lead to more imported products with lower animal welfare standards:  

“When considering changes to welfare standards at home, it is crucial that we consider the potential for simply moving low-welfare production overseas. Replacing a UK egg with an imported caged egg would be bad for the consumer, bad for producers, and bad for animal welfare.” 

As animal welfare is a devolved area, the information in this briefing applies to England only.