Michael Fabricant, together with some Labour and Liberal MPs, is campaigning against the outdoor ritual slaughter at the Eid-el-Kabir festival in France at which thousands of sheep (many exported live from Britain) have their throats cut, fully conscious, without first being stunned.

Michael Fabricant says: “This practice is against French law and European law, but yet again the French police are turning a blind eye. Often those doing the killing are untrained and perform the slaughter ineptly leading some of the sheep to die slow, lingering deaths. Ritual slaughter should only be practised in an approved abattoir by trained slaughterers to minimise the suffering to the animal. The French should enforce this law and until they do, I am calling on the Government to prohibit live export of sheep for ritual slaughter in France at future Eid-el-Kabir festivals”.