World Horse Welfare says UK live export ban still lacks enforcement powers

World Horse Welfare has welcomed a recent Europol-led operation that checked more than 1,000 horses across Belgium, France, Ireland and the Netherlands for signs of identity fraud and trafficking, but says the exercise highlights a gap closer to home: the UK's own ban on live horse exports for slaughter and fattening still lacks the enforcement powers needed to make it effective. The charity says UK authorities do not appear to have taken part in the Europol action, despite evidence that the UK land bridge is being used as part of the wider trade.

The Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Act, which made the export ban law in 2024, was a long-campaigned-for milestone, but World Horse Welfare says the secondary legislation needed to enforce it has still not been brought forward more than two years on. The charity understands the government intends to hold off until a separate trade agreement with the EU is settled, and argues that this shouldn't be a reason to delay enforcement of a ban that is already in force. It also renewed its call for a more robust, consistent system of digital equine identification, so that a horse's documented history can be relied upon rather than altered to disguise where an animal has actually come from.

For breeders and owners, the case is a reminder that a horse's passport and microchip record are only as good as the system that checks them: weak enforcement and patchy traceability make it easier for bad actors to move animals across borders under false pretences, which undermines welfare standards for everyone working within the rules. World Horse Welfare says it will keep pressing the UK government to bring forward the enforcement legislation and to work with European partners on identification standards that close these gaps.