British taxpayers fork out £13.5million a year to pay for EU subsidies for bullfighting in Spain
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British taxpayers are forking out £13.5million
a year to pay for EU subsidies for bullfighting in Spain, it has been revealed.
Spanish farmers receive the handouts for
breeding the animals killed in the controversial sport as part of the Common
Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Politicians are calling for Prime Minister
David Cameron to refuse to make the payments immediately.
Labour’s Sir Alan Meale has tabled a Commons
motion that says: ‘Bullfighting for fiestas is abhorrent as it involves the
torture of animals in public display.’
The MP for Mansfield said it was ‘bizarre’ the
Government is even contemplating paying for this and said ‘bullfighting is the
last thing in the world we should be subsidising’.
He said the practice flies in the face of
Britain’s own Animal Welfare Act 2006 and of the European Convention on animals
kept for farming purposes, which specifically states that animals should not
suffer pain, injury or distress.
‘Such financial allocations are a clear
violation of these laws.’
The motion ‘calls on the Government to
immediately cease such payments forthwith’.
The EU allocates £110million of CAP money each
year to Spanish farmers who use their pastures to rear fighting bulls.
An EU report claimed the subsidy kept the
practice going and said: ‘Without such backing bullfighting would probably be
on the brink of financial collapse.’
Animal Aid director Andrew Tyler said: ‘The
idea that taxpayers across Europe are subsidising bullfighting is deeply
offensive and Animal Aid certainly backs any political moves to put paid to
this disgusting scheme.’
Ralph Cook of the Wales Alliance Against Cruel
Sports said: ‘If the Government wants to save money with the support of the
British people they could save that proportion of our money that would go towards
rearing bulls for bullfighting.
‘They would probably get a pat on the back from
most of the British public.’
The Common Agricultural Policy subsidises
farmers across the EU’s 28 member states. Critics have argued it is outdated
and called for it to be axed.
Margaret Thatcher famously won Britain’s rebate
because a significant proportion of the EU’s budget is spent of agricultural
subsidies and the UK has a relatively small farming sector.
By John Stevens for the Daily Mail
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