11 March 2023
Green Party conference today in Birmingham (Saturday 11 March) backed calls on the government to suspend a post-Brexit trade deal with the Faroe Islands until whale and dolphin hunts end. [1]
Green Party Natural World spokesperson Jonathan Elmer said:
“This is a real test for post-Brexit Britain. We need the government to recognise that the protection and promotion of nature must be central to bilateral trade deals.
“In the case of the Faroe Islands that has not happened, and the government should suspend the trade agreement until all whale and dolphin hunts end.”
The Free Trade Agreement with the Faroe Islands gives the government significant leverage when it comes to ending the killing of pilot whales and dolphins on the Faroe Islands
In 2019, the UK government finalised a free trade agreement with the Faroe Islands which allows for £100 million of exports of wild caught and farmed fish to Britain each year. That amounts to a significant 20 per cent of the Faroe Islands global trade [2].
Ben Samuel, who proposed the successful motion on behalf of Greens for Animal Protection, said:
“I am pleased that the policy statement on dolphins has been passed by Spring conference, the highest forum of the Green Party of England and Wales.
“Through the pandemic, while local action has been important, liberation groups have gone from strength to strength thanks to good use of technology in a member-led party.
“Animal protection is a hugely popular cause in the British public. We believe it is a vote-winner. Green members of parliament will continue their advocacy on behalf of these much loved animals, and that is why as a member of Greens for Animal Protection I am helping to elect more of them; from Brighton to Bristol.”
Notes
1. The full motion can be read here: http://greencoordinate.co.uk/agenda/motions/dolphin-hunts/
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