UK chefs now need expensive electrocution devices as Starmer govt bans boiling lobsters alive

Key Highlights

• Animal welfare groups argue that methods such as electrical stunning or chilling lobsters in cold air or ice before boiling are more humane. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADThe proposed ban builds on legislation introduced by the Conservatives in 2022, which recognised invertebrates, including octopuses, crabs, and lobsters, as sentient beings capable of feeling pain.
• Ben Sturgeon, chief executive of Crustacean Compassion, welcomed the move, saying, “When live, conscious animals are placed into boiling water, they endure several minutes of excruciating pain.
• This is torture and completely avoidable.
• Humane alternatives, like electrical stunning, are readily available.”More from World How Chile confirms the global phenomenon of the rise of right in 2025 From Comoros to Morocco: How European-born players dominate AFCON squadsBroader reforms and political reactionThe lobster ban forms part of a wider Labour animal welfare strategy announced earlier in December.
• Other measures include plans to outlaw hen cages and pig farrowing crates, end puppy farming, consult on banning electric shock collars for dogs and introduce humane slaughter requirements for farmed fish. The proposals also tighten hunting rules, with a ban on shooting hares during the breeding season and an end to trail hunting, where an animal-based scent trail is laid for dogs to follow while riders chase on horseback.