British Veterinary Association (Scottish Branch)

We are looking forward to strengthening the excellent relationships we have with the farming community to secure a better deal for farm animal health and welfare in Scotland.

We’ll continue to promote our #ChooseAssured campaign by highlighting the great work that Scottish farmers and vets are doing to promote sustainable animal agriculture. We’ll be communicating the benefits of purchasing animal-derived produce with a farm assurance label.

The veterinary profession is keen to work even closer with farmers and Scottish Government as we manage the changes to SRUC disease surveillance services. We see it as a great opportunity to promote collaborative working between farmers and vets to protect Scotland’s high animal health status.

We’ll work to make sure that animal sentience is enshrined into law in Scotland and across the UK. Legislation must recognise that animals are sentient and put a duty on the state to have regard for animal welfare in policy making.

Scottish farming is renowned for its high animal health and welfare standards and these must not be compromised by future UK trade deals. We’ll be campaigning to make sure the UK Government doesn’t accept chlorinated chicken or products from systems where welfare standards are lower. We’ll also be lobbying for public money to replace CAP to incentivise and support animal health and welfare outcomes as public goods.

The veterinary profession is facing a recruitment and retention crisis across the UK. In Scotland we’ll continue to work through the Veterinary Delivery Landscape Project to make sure we have the vets we need to support our rural economy and remote communities.