My article for the Times:Like a lobster in boiling water, a parliamentary bill on animal sentience is being tortured in the House of Lords.
The problem is political rather than ethical. Nobody objects to some animals being declared sentient, but the government seems to be saying to one audience that the bill is a dramatic change that will do more to prevent suffering, while to another audience it insists that the bill is an empty gesture that will change nothing.The real reason for the bill goes back to 2017.
Some alert activist who did not like Brexit spotted that in leaving the European Union we would lose the passing reference in Article 13 of the Lisbon Treaty that animals are sentient.
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