The Government should move quickly towards banning cages for chickens, Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner said today (Monday 16 March) as he led a debate in Parliament.

Current regulations stipulate that the cages must only provide the birds with 750cm² of space each, of which only 600cm² must be useable, or “barely bigger than an A4 sheet of paper” as the Cambridge MP pointed out.

Figures show 42% of the eggs we ate came from hens reared in cages in the last four months of 2019.

Other countries are far ahead of the UK. Luxembourg has banned cages for egg-laying hens, and Germany and Austria have begun a process to completely phase them out.

However the Government rejected every one of Labour’s amendments to the Agriculture Bill aimed at better promoting farm animal welfare and enabling the ending of cages and intensive farming practices.

Daniel Zeichner MP said: “British shoppers want better welfare for our hens. But what is missing here, and what we need, is Government action to step in and introduce measures to end the use of these caged systems on our farms once and for all.

“We need solid commitments that ending the use of cages on our farms is a true priority for the Government, and proper detail on how the Government plans to act to achieve this in its food policy moving forward.

“Scrambled, fried or poached, eggs taste so much better knowing they are cruelty free.”