DURING the General Election, animal welfare was an important part of my campaign.

Having lived in rural areas pretty much my whole life, animal welfare is something about which I am very passionate.

This includes the banning of trail hunting, which is used by hunts as a cover for fox hunting and I know is a real concern for the hundreds of constituents in Camborne, Redruth and Hayle who have written to me about this issue.

On the floor of the House of Commons last week I was able to ask the leader for a meeting with ministers to discuss the timetable to fulfil our manifesto commitment to ban it. But I was also delighted that in another aspect of animal welfare, the government is also making strong progress.

The Labour government has vowed to replace animal testing in science with safe and effective alternative methods wherever possible. The strategy has been developed by government with life sciences specialists, the life sciences industry and animal welfare organisations. A new £75-million fund will help bring forward new testing methods for products that can save lives.

I have received many emails from constituents about animal testing since the election. I passed on these concerns to ministers and the government has announced plans to accelerate the development and adoption of safe and effective alternative methods.

The comprehensive roadmap backs researchers to seize on new and developing opportunities to replace animal tests, which are currently still used to determine the safety of products like life-saving vaccines and the impact chemicals like pesticides can have on living beings and the environment. By working in tandem with partners, backing researchers with new funding and streamlining regulation, the plan will enable teams to pivot safely to methods like: organ-on-a-chip systems – tiny devices that mimic how human organs work using real human cells; greater use of AI to analyse huge amounts of information about molecules to predict whether new medicines will be safe and work well on humans; 3D bio-printed tissues creating realistic human tissue samples, from skin to liver, for testing – providing lifelike environments for studying human biology and checking if substances are toxic.

The plan sets out specific commitments for the coming years. This includes an end to regulatory testing on animals to assess the potential for new treatments to cause skin and eye irritation and skin sensitisation by the end of 2026.

By 2027 researchers are expected to end tests of the strength of botox on mice and to use only DNA-based lab methods for adventitious agent testing of human medicines – the process for detecting viruses or bacteria that might accidentally contaminate medicines.

By the end of 2030 it will also reduce pharmacokinetic studies – which track how a drug moves through the body over time – on dogs and non-human primates.

As one of the most detailed strategies in the world, the plan aims to establish the UK as a world leader in developing and adopting alternatives to animal testing while growing our economy.