PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
Use of the whip in British horseracing (4 February 2020)

That this House notes that racehorses are routinely beaten with a whip under rules set by the industry's regulatory body, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) which sanctions this violent treatment in order that jockeys may, as it is claimed, encourage racehorses to improve their chances of winning, even though evidence indicates that whipping for this purpose is counter-productive; further notes that there were more than 400 breaches of the rules in 2019, mostly for whipping racehorses more than the permitted number of strikes; notes that no other animal can be legally beaten in such circumstances and that a 2018 YouGov poll found that, of those who expressed an opinion, 83 per cent of respondents oppose racehorses being whipped; recognises that, for genuine purposes of safety where other methods have failed to bring a horse under control, a whip can be legitimately employed, as is the case in Norway; and calls on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to ensure that the BHA's rules are amended to prohibit use of the whip for encouragement or for equivalent reasons.

Sponsored by:
Chris Evans (Labour)