The Liberal Democrats would ban enriched cages for hens as part of a range of food and farming policies announced in its manifesto.
The party said if elected on 4 July, it would pass a comprehensive new Animal Welfare Bill to “ensure the highest standards possible”.
It said it wanted to improve the standards of animal health and welfare in agriculture “including a ban on caged hens, and preventing unnecessarily painful practices in farming.”
Other measures the Lib Dems would introduce include ensuring that no animal product that would be illegal to produce in the UK can be sold here, “including foie gras and food produced with antibiotic growth promoters.”
In addition, the party would “at least match the EU’s stricter rules on preventative use of antibiotics, and introduce a comprehensive plan to tackle antimicrobial resistance in farm animals.”
The Lib Dems said they aimed to “give farmers a fair deal” by introducing a range of other ‘public money for public goods’ programmes, such as nature recovery, planting trees and protecting wildlife, contingent on farmers and land managers opting into an Environmental Land Management scheme.
It said it would also invest in rural and coastal infrastructure and services, including local abattoirs, so that communities are viable and can attract and retain workers, particularly from younger age groups.
Other plans include renegotiating the Australia and New Zealand trade agreements in line with the party’s objectives for health, environmental and animal welfare standards, withdrawing from them if that cannot be achieved.
The other major parties will publish their manifestos later this week.