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Senior politicians and animal welfare groups have condemned the government over a deal that allows meat from lambs slaughtered without being stunned to be exported to Saudi Arabia.
They say the deal, estimated by the government to be worth £25m over the next five years, shows a shameful disregard for animal welfare and signals that after Brexit it will become acceptable to lower standards to secure trade deals.
When the food minister George Eustice announced the deal in February, it was unclear whether the animals would be stunned before being slaughtered in the UK. But the only UK scheme approved by the Riyadh-based Gulf Accreditation Centre to certify the exported meat is the Halal Monitoring Committee (HMC), which forbids all forms of stunning, Vet Record magazine reported.