Below are links to posts on L&RUK relating to religious slaughter up to 1 March 2026, infra.  

2026

Religious slaughter again, On 24 February 2026, Esther McVey (Tatton, Con) was given leave under the Ten-Minute Rule to bring in a Bill “to introduce compulsory labelling of halal and kosher meat and products containing halal and kosher meat; and for connected purposes” (1 March 2026).

2025

Non-stun slaughter of animals debate. On 9 June 2025, there was a debate in Westminster Hall on an e-petition about the slaughter of animals without pre-stunning, for which the House of Commons Library had prepared the debate pack Debate on an e-petition on non-stun slaughter of animals, (6 June 2025). The pack contains information on: the Petition; legislation on animal slaughter; assimilated EU law; regulations in England; religious slaughter; labelling – consultation on labelling for animal welfare; statistics – exports (latest Food Standards Agency (2024) slaughter sector survey; European Court of Human rights ruling; stakeholder views; Parliamentary Questions; news items and links, (15 June 2025).

2024

Ritual slaughter again: Executief van de Moslims van België. The Court said that it was not for it to decide whether or not stunning prior to slaughter was in conformity with the dietary precepts of Muslim and Jewish believers [85 & 86]. It was apparent from the parliamentary debates leading to the adoption of the two decrees that the absence of pre-stunning was an aspect of the religious ritual that attained a certain level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance, at least for certain Jews and Muslims, and there had therefore been an interference with the applicants’ freedom of religion [87 & 88].

The Court concluded unanimously that the Flemish and Walloon authorities had not exceeded their margin of appreciation. They had taken a measure that was justified in principle and which could be considered proportionate to the aim pursued, namely the protection of animal welfare as an aspect of “public morals”. There had not, therefore, been a violation of Article 9 or of Article 14 in conjunction with Article 9, (4 April 2024).

2020

Religious slaughter, pre-stunning and the CJEU: Centraal Israëlitisch Consistorie van België. In Centraal Israëlitisch Consistorie van België and Others [2020] Case C-336/19, the Grand Chamber of the CJEU has ruled that, in order to promote animal welfare in the context of ritual slaughter, Member States may, without infringing the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, require pre-stunning of animals before slaughter, (17 December 2020).

2019

Is vegetarianism a “protected characteristic”? Conisbee. Mr G Conisbee v Crossley Farms Ltd & Ors [2019] ET 3335357/2018 was a preliminary hearing to determine whether or not vegetarianism was “capable of satisfying the requirement and definition of being a philosophical belief (protected characteristic) under the Equality Act 2010”, (21 September 2019).

Westminster Hall debate on ritual slaughter. The House of Commons held a short debate in Westminster Hall on the religious slaughter of farm animals. Opening the debate, George Eustice (Camborne and Redruth) (Con), suggested a number of possible improvements to the present regime, (5 July 2019).

CJEU rules non-stun slaughter incompatible with organic labelling. The CJEU Grand Chamber has handed down its judgment in Oeuvre d’assistance aux bêtes d’abattoirs (Protection of animals at the time of killing) [2019] EUECJ C-497/17. The Court ruled that EU law does not permit putting the EU organic production logo on products derived from animals that have been ritually slaughtered without pre-stunning: “such a practice fails to observe the highest animal welfare standards”, (1March 2019).

2018

CJEU & temporary slaughterhouses for ritual slaughter: Liga van Moskeeen. In Liga van Moskeeen en Islamitische Organisaties Provincie Antwerpen VZW and Others [2018] EUECJ C-426/16, the Court was asked for a preliminary ruling on the validity of Article 4(4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 of 24 September 2009 on the protection of animals in relation to the Flemish Regional Government’s decision no longer to approve temporary slaughterhouses during the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice, (31 May 2018).

Law and religion roundup – 18th February. Notes re: action in France and in parts of Belgium relating to religious slaughter, (18 February 2018).

Un-stunned meat supply to schools?. Local initiative in the absence of national provisions Lancashire County Council is in the process of reviewing its current policy on the supply of halal meat to schools, and its on-line consultation is due to close on 7 March. The Council voted to stop supplying un-stunned non-poultry meat to schools and other establishments last October, but in January decided to reconsider its policy after the Lancashire Council of Mosques (LCM) threatened to seek judicial review of its decision and encourage a boycott of school meals, (5 March 2018).

2017

National Secular Society report on freedom of and from religion. On 26 December, the National Secular Society published a report, Rethinking religion and belief in public life: a manifesto for change. In the Executive Summary, the Report argues that the purpose of its proposed reforms is not to drive religious people out of public life, but simply to establish a level playing-field for all, (6 February 2017).

2015

MPs debate non-stun slaughter (yet again). Religious slaughter was last considered by MPs at the end of last year when Neil Parish (Con, Tiverton and Honiton), chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Beef and Lamb, secured a debate on “Meat slaughtered in accordance with religious rites”, Commons Hansard 4 Nov 2014 Vol 592(105) Col 147WH. This Monday, 23 February, the topic was again on the agenda with another WH debate on “an e-petition relating to ending non-stun slaughter to promote animal welfare,” (24 February 2015).

2014

Halal and shechita in the news again. The Times reports (£) that the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Beef and Lamb has called for experiments on stunning sheep and cattle in order to satisfy consumers of halal meat, (28 August 2014).

Non-stunning response: e-petition. The e-petition End non-stun slaughter to promote animal welfare has now exceeded the threshold of 10,000 signatures and therefore qualifies for a response from the department responsible for the issues raised, in this case the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Defra. On 24 June the NSS reported the headline in the Smallholder: “Positive response from government to slaughter petition”.  However, in view of its lack of action to date, we  would disagree with this assessment, (26 June 2014).

2013

Ritual slaughter and animal welfare. In May the Government published a Summary of Responses to last year’s consultation on the welfare of animals at slaughter. We have previously noted the results of a YouGov poll commissioned by the Jewish Chronicle in which 45 per cent of respondents supported a ban on ritual slaughter, 27 per cent were against and 28 per cent undecided. (8 June 2013).

Last updated: 10 June 2025 at  17:36.