A private members’ bill to ban live animal exports post-Brexit, that was being taken forward by former NI Secretary of State, Theresa Villiers, will not proceed to the next stage as previously planned.

Following a meeting with Defra secretary Michael Gove last week, Villiers confirmed that the bill has been postponed, although she insisted that it could still be brought forward at a later date. In the meantime, she has asked the Defra secretary to consider including a ban on live exports as part of a new agriculture bill to be brought forward later this year.

“When I urged him to introduce a ban, he told me that the Government is preparing proposals on live exports for consultation and is looking very seriously at a ban. I pressed him to consider a ban as a potential addition to the agriculture bill, which the Government is committed to bringing forward, and he agreed to look into this,” said Villiers after the meeting.

If her draft bill was passed into law, it would have made it an offence to export live animals outside of the UK for fattening and slaughter. However, the draft text included a clause that would have allowed livestock born in NI to go to the Republic of Ireland for slaughter, but not for onward live transit to another EU member state.

Commenting last month, UFU president Barclay Bell said that the idea of a ban on live exports was a “non-starter” for NI farming, and insisted that it must be strongly opposed by local elected representatives.