Labour will vow to part out animal testing and shut fox looking loopholes

Labour will vow to speed up the end of animal testing and close loopholes in the fox hunting ban in its manifesto.

The party will put forward a comprehensive plan to tackle animal cruelty that will also stop the import of hunting trophies from abroad.

Singer and campaigner Will Young tonight gave his backing to the party as it prepared to unveil the “biggest boost in animal welfare for a generation”.

Labour will promise to ban the importation of designer dogs and cats with fashion-based mutilations, as well as banning the sale of animals with cropped ears. The importation of heavily pregnant dogs and cats will be banned.

Trail hunting will be stopped over concerns it is being used as a smokescreen for illegal fox hunting. Fox hunting was banned in England and Wales in 2005, but hounds are allowed to follow a scented cloth instead. Snare traps, which use thin wire as a noose to catch rabbits and foxes, will be prohibited.

The party will promise to publish a roadmap to end the use of animals in the scientific testing of products. In the first year of a Labour government, a board of experts will be tasked with coming up with the plan to phase out the use of dogs, minipigs and rabbits in testing. This will include an end to medical testing when scientific alternatives allow.

The party will also vow to introduce a trophy hunting ban. The Mirror has long campaigned for hunters to be prohibited from bringing their souvenirs home from shoots overseas.

Mr Young said: “Animals across Britain and the world are subjected to horrific cruelty – from puppies bred in appalling conditions for profit, rabbits used in the testing of consumer products and foxes hunted down by an aggressive pack of dogs. Animal cruelty must be brought to an end. That is why I am proud to back Labour’s plans for the biggest boost to animal welfare for a generation. A vote for Labour, is a vote to end animal suffering.”

Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary Steve Reed said: “For too long, too many animals including the world’s most endangered species have been left to suffer in silence. The Conservatives are on the side of animal cruelty. Labour will end it.”